Your Guardian Angel
by Cayla Renee Kullin
Summary: When she was 20 years old, she was saved by the BAU, mainly Dr. Spencer Reid. Now a 24 year old FBI agent, she's been assigned to the BAU to find the one who saved her still there. REID X OC
1. Prologue

PROLOGUE

How long had she been held in this place? There were no windows and the small room was eternally dark. For all she knew she'd only been here hours, but it felt like years. So far he'd beaten her several times, but he had not raped her. Yet, and it was a yet because she knew he would eventually. He'd rape her and then murder her like all the others.

She was curled up on the ground, her wrists chained to a stone pillar. The chains let her move for a few feet in either direction, but she hadn't done much moving since the first time he'd hurt her. In the beginning, she'd cried continually, never stopping, only getting worse. Now it seemed as if she had no more tears left to cry, and she was quiet.

It was cold on the stone floor, and her torn and bloody shorts and tank top did little to keep her warm. She shivered and her breath came out as fog in front of her face. She was afraid to move much, afraid she'd come across more of the broken glass that had been everywhere not long ago, afraid she'd do more damage to her already broken bones.

He had hurt her neck and head, too. Some of the worst injuries were from her trying to fight back, when she stil held on to hope that she'd live. She hadn't been thinking clearly then. It wasn't until after she'd been beaten the first time that she remembered the serial killer in the area. She'd given up all hope of getting out alive then.

When she heard the footsteps, she sat up and leaned her back against the pillar. She brought her knees to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. As always, she wondered if this would be the time he would have his way with her and kill her. It wasn't the death she feared. If anything, she prayed for it.

When the stone door was pulled open she saw several men instead of the one she had been expecting. The unexpected light burned her eyes, and she hid them. The next thing she knew, someone was kneeling next to her, gently undoing her chains.

"Amy O'hara? My name is Dr. Spencer Reid, I'm with the FBI. I'm going to get you out of here," the man told her. She didn't even consider the possibility of a trick. As soon as her hands were free, she threw her arms around the man's neck and started to cry. "Shhhh, it's alright. Let's get you to the hospital," he said.

She felt herself being lifted up and kept her arms tightly around the man's neck and her face buried in his shoulder. She felt safe with the FBI agent who had pulled her from her hell on earth. It was very reluctantly, but she finally let go when he put her down on a stretcher. She hadn't really felt of the pain from her injuries while he was carrying her, but she felt it now. She couldn't stop the tears that flowed down her face as the paramedics worked on her.

Everything had been explained to her in the hospital. She knew the names of all the agents who had saved her, even what unit they were in. She even had a picture of them in a group. These were her saviors, especially the young Dr. Spencer Reid. Up until that moment, she hadn't known what she wanted to do with her life. Now she did.

Her saviors had inspired her. Thanks to Spencer Reid, Derek Morgan, Aaron Hotchner, Jason Gideon, Jennifer Jareau, and Elle Greenaway, she knew what she wanted to do. What she had to do. And she was determined to do it. Maybe along the way she would get lucky enough to see her saviors again and thank them for all they had done.

**A/N: What do you think so far? It's just the prologue, but reviews are always nice. Even flames, they make me a better writer. **


	2. Reassigned

Four years after her terrifying ordeal, Amy O'hara was called into her Unit Chief's office. "Agent O'hara, I hope you're doing well. Please, sit down," he said. Right away, she knew something was off. There had to be a reason her Unit Chief was acting so formal. The team was always casual with each other. She wondered if she had done something wrong.

"I'm doing fine, sir. Curious about the formality, but I'm sure you'll explain that to me," she replied. He gave her a small smile.

"Well first of all I'm very proud of the work you've done here. You've been an irreplaceable asset to this team as well as the entire Bureau. Your excellent work has caught the attention of those in high places. Amy, you're being reassigned to the Behavioral Analysis Unit in Quantico. Of course, you can always turn it down if you'd rather not go," he told her.

Amy recognized the name of the unit immediately. As much as she wanted to go, she wasn't sure about leaving her team. "What do you think I should do, sir? I value your opinion and what you say matters to me," she said.

"Amy, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity. As much as we'll miss you here, you'd have to be a fool to pass this up. You're no fool Amy. Congratulations. You'll be starting there next week. Good luck," he said. In shock, she left his office. The rest of her team was waiting for her, curious as to what had gone on.

"I'm being reassigned to the Behavioral Analysis Unit in Quantico," she explained. She knew the next week would be sad, and dreaded saying goodbye to her colleagues. Her friends. But she couldn't wait to really meet the people who had saved her life four years ago. It seemed so unreal.

She knew it wasn't likely they'd remember her. She was probably just another face in an endless sea of victims. Even if they did vaguely remeber her, at the time she'd been so emaciated, dirty, bloody, and bruised she doubted they'd recognize her. She wondered if the team had changed at all. Lost members or gained any new ones.

She found herself praying that she would find Dr. Spencer Reid still a member of that team. Out of everything she remembered about her experience, he stood out the most. He had picked her up and taken her away from hell. She would never be able to forget the feeling of safety he had given her, or the way he'd made her forget about her pain. She definitely hoped he'd still be there.

**Quantico**

Hotch called the entire team into the conference room, only telling them he had a quick announcement to make. He had only returned two months ago from his leave after Hayley's death, but he's already taken back leadership of the team, and life went on. He was a little surprised that the Bureau was assigning a new agent here, but from her personnel file she was an excellent agent.

"As surprising as this is, we're getting a new team member. She'll be starting next week. Her name is Amy O'hara and she's coming over from the sex crimes unit," Hotch told the team.

"Amy O'hara, why does that name sound so familiar?" Reid wondered out loud.

"Probably because she's got an incredible track record with her current unit. She's been mentioned in a few reports and newspaper articles. You probably read her name somewhere and forgot about it," Hotch suggested.

"I don't know Hotch, I think I've heard that name before too," Morgan said.

"You know, it sounds familiar to me too. How far did you get into her personnel file, Hotch?" JJ asked.

"Not very. I stopped after seeing all of her commendations," Hotch admitted.

"Can I see it?" Reid asked. Hotch handed him the file and Reid looked through it quickly, finally finding a newspaper article that jarred his memory. "You guys, this is it! The Cliffside serial killer case, Amy O'hara was the only surviving victim. She'd been missing for almost two weeks, we found her and got her out of there ourselves," he said.

"Cliffside serial killer?" Emily asked.

"I'm assuming that's from before we started here," Rossi added.

"It was one of my first cases, four years ago. He'd already kidnapped, beaten, raped, and murdered five other women. We found Amy just a few hours before he planned to kill her. He never got the chance to rape her, either," Reid explained.

"And now she's with the FBI, being reassigned to this very unit. Do you think she'll remember?" Garcia asked.

"Don't know. People deal with trauma in different ways. Some remember everything crystal clear, others force themselves to forget everything. Still others choose what to remember and what to forget. I guess we'll find out what she remembers when she gets here," Hotch said.

"Well untill then, it'll be business as usual. Let's get to work on this new case," Rossi said. The team shifted their focus to the horrors in front of them, but Reid couldn't fully put Amy O'hara out of his mind. Now that he remembered her, he was shocked that he had ever been able to forget. He had carried her out of there himself.

Right now that was the only memory of her he had, that terrified, hurt girl who'd clung to him and cried as he took her away from what was likely the worst experience of her life. He supposed that over the years other cases had moved to the front of his mind, making him forget her. He was glad he'd get to see how she'd turned out after all that. Maybe at least one person had found a happy ending.


	3. Introductions

Today was finally the day. She had said her goodbyes, cleared out her desk, and programmed her new route to work into her car's GPS. She'd done all this on Friday, her last day in her old unit. Now it was Monday, her first day at the BAU. She was supposed to go straight to her new Unit Chief's office. Aaron Hotchner. She remembered that name.

She remembered all of their names, even if their faces were nothing but blurs. Except for Dr. Spencer Reid. She knew that eve nif she had not been assigned to the BAU, she would never forget that face. He was the only good thing she remembered. Whenever she woke up from a nightmare about her ordeal, she just thought of him and she was okay. She'd begun to regard him almost as a guardian angel.

As she always was on an important day, Amy was up early. It wasn't that she did it on purpose. Her mind just wouldn't let her stay asleep when it was excited. And she couldn't remember the last time she had been so excited. The sadness of leaving her team was all but forgotten at the prospect of her new one. As soon it reached what could be considered an acceptable hour, she got into her car to drive to work.

When she arrived the place was more or less empty. Rather, she didn't see anybody she remembered. She walked up a few stairs and knocked on a door with the words "A. Hotchner" on it. She hesitated for a moment, but then finally knocked on the door. "Come in," called a voice she could vaguely remember hearing calling out orders that night.

"Ah, Agent O'hara. Nice to see you again. I have to say I prefer these circumstances to the old ones," Hotch said, reaching out to shake her hand with a small smile.

"So you do remember me? I'd be lying if I said I wasn't surprised, albeit pleasantly," she said.

"I'm glad to see everything worked out for you. If I may ask, what made you decide to join the Bureau?" Hotch asked.

"Well, this team did. When I was saved, I realized I had been given a second chance to stop drifting through life and to do something that would make a difference. I knew that even though the one who'd hurt me was gone, there were others out there like him. And I felt that the best thing I could do would be to help stop them," she explained.

"Well we're glad to have you on the team. Everybody else should be arriving soon. There've been a few changes to the team in the last four years. Agents Greenaway and Gideon have left us, but we've been joined by Agents Emily and Prentiss and David Rossi. You'll also meet our technical analyst, Penelope Garcia. You didn't meet her then but she was also instrumental in finding you," Hotch explained.

Voices could then be heard outside. Amy recognized a few of them. She could hear Agent Jareau, Agent Morgan, and - her heart seemed to skip a beat - Dr. Spencer Reid. "Sounds like the rest of the team's here. Let's go re-introduce you," Hotch said, walking over to the door and opening it.

Down in the bullpen, Reid was sitting at his desk, ignoring Morgan's usual banter and already reading a book. He saw the door to Hotch's office open and a girl stepped out with Hotch behind her. He was glad he already knew who she was, because otherwise he never would have recognized her. She looked so different without the bruises and broken bones.

He had re-read the case file over the weekend to refresh his memory on what exactly had happened to her. Her hometown had been both ethnically and economically diverse. Somebody was killing the daughters of the more well-off families in town. Not just killing, torturing, raping, and then killing. He'd already killed five, and Amy had already been missing for a while before the police finally decided to request help from the BAU.

They knew that the unsub only held his victims for about two weeks, so Amy only had about three days left by the time they got there. They had found her at the last second. Had they arrived only an hour later, he would have raped and murdered her. She had changed a lot from the terrified victim who had clung to him as he carried her out to the ambulance.

Amy's eyes looked over the now occupied bullpen. There was a man and two women she didn't recognize. She assumed these were Agents Rossi, Prentiss, and Garcia. She did recognize Jennifer Jareau, Derek Morgan, and Dr. Spencer Reid. She walked down the few stairs to wind up standing next to the group.

"I'm sure you remember Agents Jareau, Morgan, and Reid. These are Agents Rossi, Prentiss, and Garcia. Team, this is Agent Amy O'hara," Hotch said. Greetings were brief and friendly. She spoke little to Reid, she was surprised to find that he made her a little nervous. Before long, Hotch went back to his officem and she set up at her new desk in the bullpen. She couldn't help but notice it was directly across from Reid's.

"So Amy, I gotta say I would have never expected to see you here. What exactly happened after that night four years ago?" Morgan asked.

"Well basically after I got out of the hospital I decided I wanted to be an FBI agent. I went to school, got a couple degrees, and applied to the Bureau. Except for those two weeks four years ago I've lived a normal life. You know, just did my best not to let what happened hold me back," she explained.

Her words surprised Reid. He remembered how difficult things had been after he had been kidnapped by Tobias Hankel, and that was only for about two days. Amy had been held and tortured by a serial murderer/rapist and she just went on as if nothing had happened? It took a moment for him to realize that she had glossed over things. It wasn't that she had no problem dealing with it. It was that she didn't want to talk about dealing with it.

"Alright everybody, conference room, now. We've got a case," JJ called.

**A/N: Well what do you think about how this chapter turned out? Good, not so good, terrible? Reviews make me happy (even negative ones)!!**


	4. Poetry

"Over the past three months, six teenage girls have been killed in Edgewater, New Jersey. In all of the cases, the cause of death is still not known. Only way they even know they have a serial killer is because of notes found in the girls' pockets, all in the same handwriting, all verses from the poem "Annabel Lee" by Edgar Allan Poe. The first victim had the first verse, the second had the second, and so on. They have no leads and they're getting desperate. Edgewater was previously a factory town, recently they've been building luxury condos, stores, and outlet malls. What they find interesting is that the poem takes place "in a kingdom by the sea" and Edgewater is literally right on the Hudson River, hence the name," JJ explained.

"The poem tells the story of a young man who lost a girl he loved. As the poem goes, he couldn't forget her. '_For the moon never beams, without bringing me dreams, of the beautiful Annabel Lee; And the stars never rise but I feel the bright eyes of the beautiful Annabel Lee_' it says. Maybe he feels that the poem tells his own story," Amy suggested.

The team was silent for a little bit, looking at her. "What?" she asked, suddenly worried that she had done something wrong.

"Nothing. You sounded exactly like Reid for a second there," Morgan joked. Amy fought to keep the blush off her face, it didn't help that Reid smiled at that.

"It is a good theory though, keep that in mind. We're going to New Jersey, wheels up in an hour," Hotch said.

At first Amy was too happy that she had been told her theory was good to realize exactly where they were going. Once it hit her though, she was floored. Edgewater was right next to her hometown, Cliffside Park. She hadn't been back to her hometown in four years. After what happened, she got out of there and never went back.

She was relieved that the rest of the team didn't seem to notice the location just yet. Her first case would be difficult enough without them so worried about her. She knew they'd probably figure it out eventually. After all, they were well trained FBI agents who knew all about the human mind, and who remembered her after four years and countless cases had gone by. Sooner or later, they'd figure it out.

**ON THE PLANE**

"Wait a second, guys, 'Annabel Lee' only had six verses. That means either he's done killing, or he'll find a new poem to use. If he winds up using a new poem, maybe we'll be able to find out a bit more about him," Reid said.

"Well if he sticks with Poe he'll have a lot of poems to choose from. The death of a beloved young woman is the theme to a lot of his poems," Amy added.

"We should get as familiar with the area as we can before we land," Hotch said. Amy's heart sank. They'd piece it together now. "Edgewater is right on the river, you can clearly see New York City from just about the entire town. Right above it on the edge of the cliff is the town of... Cliffside," Hotch said.

Amy could feel the eyes of every team member on her. She tried to ignore it. After an akward silence, she felt compelled to say something. "It's fine. Really, it isn't going to affect me," she insisted. It was obvious they didn't really believe her. She guessed she couldn't really change that just yet, but she figured she'd just have to prove it to them.

"Alright, so if we're going according to the poem, he's recently lost a girl he loved. Probably around the age of the girls he's killing, probably looked like them too. What did the girl from the poem die of?" Morgan asked.

"The exact words are '_The wind came out of the cloud by night, chilling and killing my Annabel Lee_' so maybe she got some kind of sick?" Amy suggested.

"She's definitely just like Reid," Emily commented. Again, Amy forced her face to stay calm and not betray her emotions.

**AT THE POLICE STATION**

The police station was obivously very busy when the team walked in, busier than they expected. "You're the FBI agents?" an exhausted-looking woman asked them. Hotch nodded. "Perfect timing. We just found another body," she told them.

"What poem verse did you find with her this time?" Reid asked.

She looked down at the paper in her hand and read off of it. "Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary, Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore, While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping, As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door. `'Tis some visitor,' I muttered, `tapping at my chamber door - Only this, and nothing more.'"

"It's The Raven. Another poem where the death of a beloved girl is a theme," Amy said.

"How many verses does this one have?" Rossi asked.

Amy and Reid both answered, at the same time, "Eighteen."

**A/N: On the off chance that somebody from Edgewater reads this, I'm trying to depict the town as accurately as possible. I live right next to it, in Cliffside, so I'll use my knowledge of the area as best I can. The people, however, will be completely fictional. And yes, I am making Amy from my hometown. Hey, at least I know where everything is in town, so I don't have to make things up and there's no chance of me forgetting that I put one building one a street in one chapter, the somehow magically moved it in another. Haha, I'm easily irratated by inconsistencies in stories. As for the profiling parts, I'll do the best I can with the research I've done and classes I've taken. Bear with me. As always, review!**


	5. Analysis

"Alright, so if we assume he plans on finishing the poem, he plans on killing at least seventeen more women," Rossi said.

"Up until now he's been killing a new victim about every two weeks. Six victims in three months. It's possible he wants to spend three months on each poem. If that's correct, he'll be speeding up now, killing one girl approximately every five days," Reid said.

"His victims' ages range from fifteen to seventeen. They were all brunettes, had brown eyes, and were a little on the shorter side," Amy added.

"If we assume he's telling his own story through the poems, then we can also assume he recently lost a girl he loved. That would suggest an unsub in a psychotic break. Usually those are disorganized, but the notes, the timed killings, the specific victim type, and the undetectable cause of death all suggest an organized killer," Prentiss said.

"Did anybody find a connection between the victims, other than their appearance?" Hotch asked.

"They all went to the same highschool, but considering the fact that they all live in the same town it's not much of a surprise," Morgan said.

"Well, Garcia's checking hospital records looking for a girls of similar ages and physical types to the victims. Hopefully she'll come up with something," Hotch said. "Alright, Prentiss, Morgan, JJ, you three go talk to the victims' families again, find out everything you can about the victims. Friends, hobbies, everything. Rossi, you and I will go over to the crime scenes, see if we can find anything the local police might have missed. Reid, O'hara, you stay here. Reid, start on a geographical profile. O'hara, look through the poems, see what else you can get from them. We'll meet back here in a few hours," Hotch told the team.

Shortly after, the team had set out on their assigned tasks. In their little corner of the police station, Amy and Reid spoke little. They didn't ignore each other, in fact they were extremely aware that the other was right there. That was part of the reason they both payed so much attention to their jobs, Reid to his map and Amy to the handwritten verses the unsub had left with his young victims.

Even though she knew she was supposed to be just analyzing the poems, Amy found herself analyzing the unsub's handwriting as well. She was seeing some interesting things in those little words on the pages. "Hey, Reid?" she called, a little shyly.

"Yeah?" he answered.

'I've been looking at the unsub's handwriting. If you look at how he writes, you can see he's intelligent, but controlled by his emotions. Look; his letters slant to the right, showing he responds strongly to emotional situations. His baseline, it's wavy and it slopes downward, indicating he's on an emotional roller coaster and he's a pessimistic person. He writes with small letters, which shows that he can concentrate on small details for long periods of time. His focus is in the upper zone, he's a deep thinker. His letters are irregularly spaced, meaning he's feeling confused, uncertain, or mixed up, but his words are evenly spaced, indicating he feels comfortable around people. His m's, n's, and r's have sharp, pointed tops and that usually indicates an above-average intelligence, somebody who's quick to comprehend and retain information. And if you look you can see that he writes very fast, suggesting that he's spontaneous, impatient, ambitious, aggressive, negligent, quick thinkers, and accident prone. What do you think?" she said.

"Well normally I'd question the accuracy of handwriting analysis, but a lot of that seems to fit his crimes. I think we could use that in the profile. Oh, and remind me to type any messages I might ever need to send to you," Reid joked. Amy smiled and went back to analyzing the poems themselves.

She took notes on the poems in a small notebook next to her. _Annabel Lee says that the reason the wind "chilled and killed" the girl is because the angels in heaven were jealous of the couple's love. "Her highborn kinsmen came and bore her away from me" could suggest that whoever the unsub's avenging was taken away by her well-off family. "For the moon never beams without bringing me dreams of the beautiful Annabel Lee; and the stars never rise but I feel the bright eyes of the beautiful Annabel Lee; and so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side of my darling- my darling- my life and my bride, in the sepulchre there by the sea, in her tomb by the sounding sea" He misses her, always thinks of her, possible visits where ever her remains are_, she wrote. It all seemed plausible.

_In The Raven_, she continued, _a strange bird visits the man, and when he asks if he'll ever be with the girl he lost again, the bird only says "nevermore". The bird won't go away, it seems to stay and taunt the man. The bird must symbolize something or someone that keeps reminding him of her and makes him think he'll never be with her again, even in whatever form of an afterlife he believes in_.

She was feeling fairly confident in her theories, even if this was her first case. She hoped she was right in all this. Then Reid's phone rang.

"Hello? Garcia, hang on, let me put you on speaker," he said. He took the phone away from his ear and pushed a button, allowing Amy to hear what Garcia was saying.

"Alright, well I checked the death records for short, brunette girls with brown eyes from ages thirteen to eighteen, just to be safe. I went back several months, and I can't find anything. No sicknesses, no unexplained deaths, just one girl who died in a car accident eight months ago, but her parents, boyfriend, and closest friend all died with her. So nobody was really left to start doing this to avenge her. I could broaden the search but I'm not sure if that'll help," she said.

"That's ok. Thanks anyway, Garcia," Reid said. Amy was a little dissappointed.

"I thought for sure it'd fit together," she sighed.

"We can't be right all the time. Maybe he did lose somebody important to him and she just didn't die. Keep working on it, there's got to be something in those poems," Reid suggested.

By the time the rest of the team returned, she still had no viable new theories. "Going by what the families said, they all had similar personalities," JJ said.

"They were smart, well liked, social butterflies. Friends over all the time, always invited to parties, loved by teachers and students alike," Emily added.

"Out of the seven victims so far, four had boyfriends, two were single, and one was a lesbian. Her girlfriend was there and we talked to her just to be sure, she didn't seem suspicious. We also made sure to talk to the boyfriends and best friends of other victims, all checked out," Morgan explained.

"Right now the only crime scene that will be of any use is the most recent," Rossi said.

"It snowed two days ago, any evidence we could've gained from the other crime scenes washed away. We also stopped at the ME's office," Hotch said.

"All of the girls seemed to be completely healthy, except for the fact that they were dead. There were no visible injuries, no drugs in their systems, no reason for any of them to be dead," Rossi noted.

Amy had already explained her analysis and the news from Garcia, so Reid began explaining his geographical profile.

"It's strange, the crime scenes line the river right along the edge, perfectly spaced apart. At some of the scenes, you would even be able to see the previous one. As far as I can tell the only pattern to where he's killing them is that it's right along the river, it's impossible to narrow down his comfort zone to one area of town," Reid explained.

"So basically all we have to go on is what we can get from the poems and his handwriting?" Morgan asked.

"For now. I'm sure we're all tired, let's go back to the hotel and get some sleep. We can try again in the morning," Hotch said.

**A/N: How am I doing? My boyfriend got me sick (or I got him sick, we haven't really figured that out yet :p) so I'm hoping my writing quality doesn't go down. A big thanks to those who reviewed, even if you gave criticism. After all, that just makes me a better writer and I appreciate you taking the time to give me advice. As always, reviews make me happy!**


	6. Dreams

_The night was pitch black as she walked along the sidewalk. There was no moon to show her the way, and she was too close to th city to see any stars. She had been visiting her friend across town, on the "wrong side of the tracks" as her parents put it. The entire time she was in that area, she kept her guard up. She stayed in lit areas, not talking to anybody and walking quickly. _

_ She knew she shouldn't be walking home alone, especially with a serial killer on the loose. But she was stubborn and believed that she could handle herself. Growing up with two brothers, she had long ago learned how to play rough. _

_ Once she crossed over into her area of town, she relaxed herself. There were fewer streetlights here, but that did not matter. There was also fewer people, less traffic, and houses with fancier security. A serial killer would be crazy to try and grab somebody from this area. That much she was sure of. _

_ The closer to the cliff you were, the nicer the houses. Her house was very near the edge, with a perfect view of the lights of New York City. She'd always loved the city, since she was little. She was there whenever she could be, even hoped to live there someday, or at least somewhere like it. _

_ Only blocks away from her house now, she let her guard down completely. So much for her friend's worry. Rosa had been so panicked as she had left. "What about the killer?" she had cried in a desperate attempt to keep her from going it alone. She had laughed off her concerns. Here was the proof that it was unecessary concern to begin with._

_ Just before she turned down her street, sombody grabbed her roughly from behind and put his hand firmly over her mouth. She tried to scream, to get out of his grasp, but he was too strong. She felt him holding her tightly with only one arm, then the prick of a needle in her shoulder. As she was fading into blackness, she heard his voice, whispering in her ear. "Don't worry, we're going to have fun," he whispered._

Amy woke, covered in sweat, with a small yelp. She was completely silent and still for almost a full minute, listening for any sounds from the other rooms indicating anybody else had heard her. Hearing nothing, she curled up and rested her head on her knees. "It was just a dream. Only a dream," she whispered to herself.

But she knew it wasn't just a dream. Days had passed without any new development on the case. She knew that the team would likely wake up to a new body, and she felt personal guilt over it. As much as she refused to admit it, the location of this case was getting to her. She knew the fear these victims were feeling when they realized that they were going to die.

If they only knew _how_ he was killing them, the might be able to piece it together. Sure, they had theories, the most plausible of which being a drug that wouldn't show up in a test. But they didn't _know_. She felt as if that were the missing link.

She reached over onto the nightstand and grabbed a book. It was a large collection of stories, poems, and essays by Edgar Allan Poe. She'd always been a fan of his work, and figured she might as well bring it on this case, considering the usage of the poems. She knew she wouldn't be getting any more sleep that night, so she decided to look over the poems again, praying she would notice something she had missed the hundred other times.

In his own hotel room right next to Amy's, Spencer Reid was also lying awake. He hadn't been able to sleep at all, and because of that he'd managed to hear her reaction to her dreams. It didn't take him long to know what she was probably dreaming about. The same thing she had sworn wouldn't affect her at all.

For a while, he had considered going over there to make sure she was alright. He didn't want her to still be suffering, and wished he could pull her away from the dreams just like he had pulled her away from the reality. But when he remembered his own dreams after his abduction by Tobias Hankel, he realized that she would want to be alone. After all, the team had been right. They were extremely similar.

Their similarities had made themselves even more clear over the days they had spent working on the case. They had led to a sort of closeness between the two. Interactions between them were slightly akward, but not in an entirely bad was. It was difficult for Reid to explain. As akward as their interactions were, he found himself looking forward to them.

He told himself this was all because he was the one who had personally carried her out of there years ago, and had felt her cling to him in terror and relief. But the truth was, for once the young Dr. Spencer Reid had come across something he couldn't quite explain.

He was relieved that the rest of the team hadn't noticed. Especially Morgan. Morgan was definitely the kind to tease, and even if it was good natured, brotherly joking Reid didn't feel like having Morgan say those things out loud. He guessed the tone to his interactions with Amy wasn't as obvious as it felt.

Reid knew, as did everybody else on the team, that the would probably wake up to another body in the morning, with the second verse of The Raven handwritten and put into her pocket. JJ had gone on the news and told all teenage girl to be extremely careful and not to go anywhere on their own.

The thing was, they all knew that teenage girls didn't usually go places by themselves to begin with, so they weren't sure if that'd make any difference at all. But his mind wandered back to Amy. She'd been taken walking home from a friend's house. Maybe this killer caught his victims in similar situations?

He heard more movement in Amy's room and wondered if she was alright. He could recall waking up extremely shaken after a few of his own nightmares. His instinct to go check on her fought with his knowledge that she'd probably want to be alone. Finally the movement stopped and before long Reid managed to drift off to sleep, dreading the morning's almost definite grim discovery.

**A/N: I was in a bit of a fluffy mood today. Haha sorry if you were hoping this chapter would be more about the case, but I recieved a "get well soon" text from my boyfriend that had me in an endless state of "awwwwwwwwwwwww". So that's basically the story behind this action-less chapter. I'll get back to more case-related things in the next chapter, I promise. Again, a big thanks to those who reviewed. Those who review this chapter get an imaginary cookie, even if it's a negative review. **


	7. Lead

Sure enough, there was another body in the morning. "15 year old Mandy Hanson. Same physical type as the others. Short, brunette, found the same as the others, the the poem verse in her pocket," JJ explained. "We still have to go inteview the family."

"I'll go," Amy volunteered. A few years back, she'd had a very good friend by the name of John Hanson. She remembered that he had a younger sister, but couldn't remember the name. She was fairly certain that the new victim was her, however. She was a little surprised to find that the family still lived in the area, and wondered who else was still around.

Morgan noticed Amy's expression. "Amy, do you know her?" he asked.

"I might. I think she's my old friend's sister. His last name was Hanson, but I can't remember his sister's name. If it is her, it'll be hard to get the family to talk. They're very mistrusting and closed off. I was close to him so if it's them they might talk," she explained.

"That's probably the best idea. Reid, you go with her. If she's right they won't like FBI agents in their house, and except for the gun you're not the most intimidating. No offense," Hotch said.

"None taken. Want us to leave now?" Reid asked.

"Yes, the earlier we get this out of the way, the better. JJ, try to control the press. Morgan, Prentiss, go to the ME's office. I know it's probably pointless, but try to find something we can use, even the smallest detail. Rossi, you and I will take the newest crime scene," Hotch said.

Five minutes later, Amy was in the passenger seat of one of the black Chevy Suburbans as Reid drove to the adress. "I've got to say, if you were really good friends with this guy, how did you forget his sister's name?" Reid asked, half curious and half desperate for conversation.

"She was shy, and a full nine years younger than us. Besides, I haven't talked to him in a few years," she answered.

"How many years?" he asked, suspicious.

"Four," she admitted.

"Have you talked to anybody around here since what happened?" he asked.

"Well, no. To be honest once I got out of the hospital I sort of rushed out of here. The last time anybody but my parents or brothers saw me, I was still in the hospital. I left the day after I was released," she explained.

Reid wasn't sure what to say to her. How could she claim she was fine if she was still running from things that reminded her of what had happened? "Running away doesn't solve that kind of thing," he said quietly.

"I am not running away!" she insisted, but even as she said it she knew it was a lie. Reid was saved from having to answer by their arrival at the victim's home. "Nice garden, especially for this time of year. It's got to take a lot of work to keep those plants alive in this cold weather," she said, hoping to turn the conversation to something more pleasant.

"Did you know that more money is spent on gardening than any other hobby in the country?" Reid stated. Amy was silent for a moment, looking at him. "What?" he asked.

"Nothing," she answered. But she couldn't resist. "Why do you know that?" she asked with a smile. Reid just smiled and shrugged. Amy shook her head with a small laugh, starting up the stair to the house. She knocked on the door and was slightly taken aback when it was opened by a familiar face.

"Amy?" John Hanson gasped, surprised.

"I guess I was right," she said to Reid. She turned back to John. "It's actually Supervisory Special Agent Amy O'hara now. And this is Dr. Reid. We're with the FBI," she explained with a small smile.

"FBI? Coming from you, that's a bit of a surprise. What do you need?" he asked.

"We're working the serial killer case," she began.

"Huh. So it took my little sister dying to bring you back here?" John asked, clearly irratated. Amy felt he had a right to be. After all, her friends had been terrified for her safety for nearly two weeks, and then she just ran off without saying goodbye.

"If we could just ask you and your parents a couple of questions it might help us catch the guy who did it," Reid said.

"Really? Didn't you guys get in here five days ago? You guys are the FBI. Why is this guy still killing people?" John ranted.

"Listen, John, we're doing everything we can. But we need your cooperation. We're here for Mandy," she said quietly.

"Fine. But you've got to promise you'll catch this guy," he insisted.

"We will," she promised. With that, he stepped aside and let them into the house. The place was exactly what Amy expected from this family. But the cheery atmosphere she remembered wasn't there, instead the house was filled with an overwhelming sadness.

"I have to say, I'm a little surprised to find you still in the area," Amy commented.

"Actually, half of all Americans live within 50 miles of their birthplace," Reid quoted. John was silent for a moment.

"Guy sounds like a textbook," he commented to Amy. She smiled.

"I was only just transferred to this team from my old unit, but from what I can tell he always sounds like that," she replied, but she gave Reid a smile.

The Hanson parents were in the living room. The older couple was sitting on the same couch, but opposite sides. They recognized Amy instantly. She wasted no time, but got right down to asking questions. "Why exactly did Mandy go out last night?" she asked.

"Margaret thought it was okay for her to walk to her friend's house. I told her it wasn't safe, even brought what happened to you up as an example. But she insisted that we had to stop babying her," Mr. Hanson said. It was clear there was anger and tension among them, but Amy knew this was common for couples who lost a child.

"She'd done it a few times before and she was fine! She's fifteen years old, she's old enough to walk by herself for a few minutes," Mrs. Hanson cried.

"Was," John muttered quietly. "She _was_ fifteen years old." That was too much for Mrs. Hanson, who dissolved into tears.

"What was she like in school? Was she a loner, popular, a good student?" Reid asked, directing his questions toward Mr. Hanson and John.

"She was fairly popular. Her grades were excellent. She could have done whatever she wanted with her life. She had such a bright future," John said. It hurt Amy to see her old friend so broken, but she knew something had snapped in the years that had passed. They would never truly be friends again. He held too much anger at her for that.

"What does that have to do with anything?" Mr. Hanson asked.

"It's called victimology, it helps solve the case if we can determine what kind of victim the unsub looks for, why he chooses them, what they represent," Reid explained.

"What was her friend's name? The one she was going to see?" Amy asked.

"Alicia. Alicia Little. A few months ago, Alicia's parents made her break up with a boy and Alicia hadn't quite gotten over it. Mandy was going to comfort her. Now, Alicia's parents are good people, but that boy was just too old for her," Mrs. Hanson said.

"Wait, her parents made her break up with him? What does Alicia look like?" Amy asked, tensed. Reid realized where she was going and listened intently.

"Why, she and Mandy looked an awful lot alike. Both tiny, brown hair, brown eyes. Their school lives were similar as well," Mrs. Hanson answered. Amy and Reid exchanged a quick look, and both stood up.

"Thank you, that's all we need. We'll contact you if we need anything else," Amy said as they headed for the door. Reid was already dialing the phone.

"Garcia, I need an adress. Alicia Little. Ok, thanks," he said. As soon as he hung up, he was already dialing again. Amy drove this time, heading out as soon as Reid entered the adress into the GPS. "Hotch, yeah, we might have a lead. We're on the way to check it out now. I'll call you when we know more," he said. Finally, they had something. Amy began to have hope they'd solve this case after all.

**A/N: Well? How am I doing? Anybody who reviewed the last chapter gets their imaginary cookie. You should have recieved it by now. If not, imagine harder. People who review this chapter get an imaginary cupcake and an imaginary photograph of Reid to carry with them. Review!**


	8. Alicia

Alicia Little lived only a short distance away from the Hansons. Amy and Reid spoke little during the ride, but both were hoping that this was the break they needed. If this was the missing link, then no other innocent girls would have to die while they struggled helplessly in the dark. Amy knew that if the girl was still attached to the boy, it might be a little difficult to get her to talk. If she was correct, they'd have to rely on her parents and the hope that news of Mandy's death would leave Alicia so shaken she'd tell them what they needed to know.

"So how are we going to approach this?" she asked out loud, knowing they would need a game plan in they were going to get into the mind of a distraught teenager and her parents.

"We ask the parents a question or two, then switch the focus to Alicia. We do what we can to convince her to talk, and then if we need to we talk to her parents again," Reid said.

"Do we tell them that he's now a murder suspect?" she asked. As it was still her first case with the BAU, she wasn't entirely sure how they handled this kind of situation.

"If we have to. Sometimes it's the only way people will talk," Reid explained. Amy nodded. Before long they had arrived at the house. It was nice, but not extravagant. The cars in the driveway were luxurious without being flashy. It almost reminded Amy of her own house when she was young. Reid and Amy hurried out of the car and up the stairs, knocking on the door.

A woman answered, and they assumed it was Alicia's mother. Her eyes were red and watery, the woman had been crying. "Mrs. Little? I'm Agent Amy O'hara, and this is Dr. Spencer Reid. We're with the FBI," she explained.

"FBI? Oh, you must be here because of what happened to poor little Mandy. She was such a sweet girl, almost like a second daughter to me. She was here last night, I offered her a ride home but she refused it, oh I should have insisted," the woman said. She began crying again.

"We understand this is a difficult time but we really need to ask you some questions. Alicia's former boyfriend, the one you made her break up with, what was his name?" Reid asked. He didn't want to waste any time.

"Oh, it was Mark. Mark something. I don't remember his last name. You've got to understand, I only had her do that because he was too old for her! A fifteen year old girl does not need to be with a twenty year old man," Mrs. Little explained.

"Where's Alicia? We need to ask her some questions," Amy said.

"She's up in her room. Come in, I'll go get her," she answered. Amy and Reid stepped inside out of the cold air and closed the door behind them as Mrs. Little hurried up the stairs.

"The Alicia and Mandy must have been really close for Mrs. Little to care about Mandy so much," Amy whispered.

"Let's hope that Alicia's closeness to Mandy outweighs any loyalty she may feel to Mark," Reid replied. Mrs. Little appeared with a teenage girl following close behind. Tears were flowing freely down the girl's face. She was short, brunette, brown-eyed, basically she fit the unsub's type perfectly. They assumed this was Alicia.

"Alicia, we know you're upset about Mandy but we need to ask you a few questions," Amy said gently. Alicia nodded. "What did you and Mandy talk about yesterday?" Amy asked, hoping to start off slow and the build up to what they really wanted to know.

"We talked about the serial killer a little bit. And Mark. She was always there for me when I was sad about Mark," Alicia answered.

"Does Mark have a last name?" Reid asked. Alicia looked up.

"Mark didn't do anything wrong. He's been good, he hasn't violated parole or anything. Why are you looking for him?" she asked in response.

"We just want to ask him a few questions, Alicia. If you just tell us his last name we can leave you alone, we'll ask him our questions, and then we'll be done," Amy explained.

"No," Alicia replied.

"No?" Amy repeated, shocked.

"I'm not giving you his name. My mom put you up to this, didn't she? You want to arrest him because we love each other. Age is just a number. He loves me, and I love him. Even if I haven't seen him in a long time, I know he still loves me. I will not betray him," Alicia insisted.

"Alicia, didn't it ever strike you as odd that the girls started dying after you broke up with him? Or that all the girls looked just like you with similar school lives? And have you ever heard the poems Annabel Lee or The Raven by Edgar Allan poe? Because verses from those poems were left at the scenes. Do you know what the themes of those poems are? Loss of a beloved girl," Reid said.

"I know what those poems are," Alicia shot. "Mark read them to me all the time. He loved Poe."

"Alicia, you can't tell us you don't find all that suspicious. Please, just tell us his last name," Reid told her. Alicia shook her head. Suddenly, Amy was angry at this girl who would give up her friend and let the murderer get away.

"Listen Alicia, the man you're protecting is the one who killed your friend! He's killed eight girls and is only going to kill again! Maybe things have changed, but when I was fifteen boys never came before friends. Are you really going to let your friend's murderer get away with it?" Amy challenged.

"Mark wouldn't do this! You don't know him like I do! You're trying to trick me, turn me against him! It won't work!" Alicia screamed.

"Alright then, fine. We'll take you down to the station and see if you change your mind," Amy said, standing up.

"Y- you can't do that!" Alicia insisted.

"Watch me," Amy replied.

"We can only hold her for so long," Reid reasoned.

"We'll just have to make sure it's long enough to make her talk," Amy told him. They lead Alicia out of the house and into the car. Reid called Hotch to make sure the team would be there by the time they got back. From what they'd seen so far, it was going to take a lot to crack this girl. And time was something they didn't have a lot of.

**A/N: Yay for the second chapter today! As much as being sick sucks, I do love being able to write all day. If I don't get any more chapters up today, then I just wanted to let you know that tomorrow's chapter will be up later in the evening, as I'm probably going back to school tomorrow. I haven't seen my friends or boyfriend in a full week, and for me that's emotionally draining because the only interaction I had was with with my mom and brothers (if you knew them, you'd understand :p). Anyway, reviewers for **_**this**_** chapter get an imaginary slice of cake with an imaginary scoop of ice cream on top. Review!**


	9. So Close

Alicia Little sat alone in the interrogation room as the team watched her through the one-way mirror. She'd been in therre by herself for about half an hour now. Even if she was fifteen years old, they wanted to make her sweat. It was the only way they'd ever be able to get her to talk about Mark. They hoped he hadn't been watching as they took Alicia from the house. If he felt cornered he could run, or worse, rush to complete his poems before they caught him.

"Are we going in yet?" Prentiss asked. She and Hotch were the two who were going to interrogate her.

"Just about. We'll need the crime scene photos, especially the ones of Mandy Hanson. Hopefully seeing them will shake her up enough to get her to talk. Get the notes too, if she recognizes his handwriting it could convince her," Hotch instructed.

"Got them all here," Amy said.

"So what, are we going to play good cop, bad cop?" Prentiss asked. Hotch nodded.

"It should be effective on her. She's a scared teenage girl, she'll break down under enough pressure," he explained. "Alright, let's go," he said. As he usually did, Hotch was going to play the part of the "bad cop". He stormed in angrily while Prentiss walked in calmly and sat across from Alicia.

"We're sorry for keeping you in here so long, Alicia. Listen, we have no intention of hurting Mark in any way. We just want to ask him a few questions. If you just tell us his name, we can let you go," Emily explained.

"You're a liar. You're going to arrest him for something he didn't do," Alicia shot at her.

"What makes you so sure he didn't? Because you think you know him? This may come as a shock to a stupid little girl but people can and will manipulate you for their own purposes," Hotch said angrily.

"Mark wouldn't! You can't scare me," Alicia replied.

"Oh, really?" Hotch answered. He went into the folder in his hands.

"Don't show her those," Emily said.

"She deserves to see the crimes of the man she's protecting," Hotch insisted, putting the pictures out on the table one by one. There was one picture of each crime scene, except for Mandy. Mandy filled five different pictures on the table. Alicia shut her eyes and turned her head.

"Look at them!" Hotch yelled. Alicia jumped, but opened her eyes. Hotch picked up a picture of Mandy and held it up. "This is what he did to your friend. Are you really going to protect him?"

"You can't prove he did it," Alicia argued, but it was weakly. She was breaking. Prentiss took out one of the notes.

"Is this his handwriting?" she asked. Alicia took one look at the note and started crying, burying her head in her hands. It was clear she was about to give it up. But then the door opened and a man walked into the room.

"Alicia, don't say another word. Agents, you can't interrogate my client without a parent or attorney present. Lucky her mother called me," the man said.

"You're her lawyer?" Prentiss asked.

"Yes, I am. And this interview is over," the man insisted. He took Alicia and started to leave. As he tried to go, he was stopped by Amy. This was another person she knew.

"Will, don't do this," she begged.

"How the hell do you know my name?" he asked, surprised.

"Wow, four years go by and you forget all about me. But Will, don't do this. She was about to give us the name of a serial killer!" she insisted.

"Oh my god, Amy O'hara. As shocking as this is, it doesn't change anything," he said.

"So you're going to let more innocent girls get killed? Is that what Cara would want?" Amy Called. Reid Remembered that the killler who had kidnapped Amy had also killed a girl named Cara. And Cara had an older brother named Will. So was this him, then?

"I'm just doing my job, Amy. Just like you're doing yours. Unfortunately, you're going to have to do it without Miss Little. Goodbye," Will answered before storming out the door.

"Anybody else got a bad feeling about this?" Prentiss asked.

"We can't let her walk out that door," Morgan said.

"We haven't got a choice," Rossi sighed.

A few hours later the team found out that things would be even more difficult than they thought. They were still at the police station, trying to find ways they'd be able to get access to Alicia. It was quiet, and the team radiated a slew of emotions, mostly frustration. Suddenly, Mrs. Little rushed into the station, hysterical. There was a cut above her head.

"Please, please you've got to help me! He took Alicia! That bastard Mark took my Alicia" she cried.

**A/N: Dun dun dun! Oh come on, you didn't think things would be that simple, did you? Where's the fun in that? Third chapter up today, I'm on a roll! I'm debating on whether I should finish another chapter today, or leave you hanging until tomorrow night. People who review this chapter get an imaginary ice cream sundae. Oh no, I'm running out of reward ideas! Review anyway!**


	10. Found

The team's first reaction was shock. "Do something!" Mrs. Little shrieked. Amy jumped up and led her to a chair.

"What happened?" she asked.

"What do you mean what happened? He took my little girl!" Mrs. Little screamed.

"How?" Hotch asked.

"We were inside, Alicia was up in her room. There was a knock at the door, I went to answer it. He was holding something, he hit me with it. I fell to the floor. I pretended to be out cold, I didn't want him to hit me again. I wasn't sure who he was until I heard Alicia yell out 'Mark!'. She didn't want to go with him, she tried to pull away. I tried to get up, but he'd hit my head too hard. Everything was so fuzzy. Alicia was crying for me. He pulled her into his car and drove away!" she explained. "Please, you've got to help me," she begged.

"So the eight other girls didn't matter, you lawyered up and wouldn't let your daughter tell us the man's last name. Now that your own daughter is missing suddenly you want our help?" Amy asked, contempt clear in her voice.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I thought that my daughter had been through enough, I didn't want to force her through the pain of the interrogation!" Mrs. Little cried.

"So the eight dead girls, their pain didn't mean anything to you?" Amy growled.

"Amy," Hotch said sternly. "Mrs. Little, we're going to need you to tell us exactly what he looked like. Morgan, get Garcia on the phone. With a first name and a physical description we should be able to find a full name," he ordered.

Morgan dialed Garcia quickly. "You've reached the office of infinite knowledge, how can I help you today?" her voice sounded over the speaker phone.

Morgan smiled. "Baby girl I need you to find someone for me. We got a first name and a physical description, think you can find him with just that?" he asked.

"Aw, now that's a pretty dumb question. You know I can," she replied.

"First name is Mark, he should live in the area. Mrs. Little, can you give a physical description?" Morgan said.

"He was tall, around 6 feet, three inches. He had blonde hair and blue eyes. There was a tattoo on his arm, and he had a small scar above his right eyebrow," she said.

"Oh, Garcia, Alicia mentioned something about him not violating parole, so he's obviously on it," Reid added.

"Got it," Garcia answered. Rapid typing could faintly be heard on the other side of the line. "One scumbag, coming right up. His name's Mark Bradley, I'm sending a picture to your phones now. Oh that's interesting," she commented.

"What is?" Hotch asked.

"Apparently he doesn't know it's possible to track a cell phone. His is on, and he's in New York City," she replied.

"Thanks Baby girl," Morgan said, then the line went silent. "Looks like we're headed to New York," he added.

Half an hour later, the team had divided into three different cars and already made it to New York City. Somehow, Reid and Amy wound up in the same car, alone. Amy was driving this time, because Reid didn't know the area as well. Amy had to admit that surprised her.

"So except for work, you've never been in the city before?" she asked again.

"For the third time, no I have not," he answered, but he was smiling at the fact that she found it so hard to believe.

"If we have time after we find Alicia, I am showing you the city before we go back to Quantico. But, really? You're not joking?" she repeated. She loved the city so much, she couldn't understand how anybody could have not gone there.

"Amy, if you ask me that one more time, I will never let you show me around the city," he said.

"Geez, fine. Are we getting close?" she asked. The phone had been shut off for a while, and when it came back on Amy and Reid had been closest.

"You'd probably know better than I would," Reid replied. He smiled at her look, then checked the GPS for her. It says we should be there in two minutes," he read.

"But with traffic in the city, that's more like ten. I can cut it down to five at best," Amy said. Without waiting for an answer, she turned on the sirens and lights. Cars parted to let them through, and even though progress was slow it was much better than before. As Amy had predicted, she had cut the time to get there down to five minutes. They pulled up in front of an empty apartment building.

"Wow, how romantic," she said sarcastically.

"If she fought against him taking her here, maybe he wasn't going for romantic. Maybe it was more 'good place to hide a body'," Reid suggested.

"Way to think positive. Come on," Amy said, heading for the door.

"Shouldn't we wait for the rest of the team?" Reid asked.

"And leave a scared teenage girl alone with a serial killer?" Amy replied, looking at him.

"Right," he replied. Amy kicked down the door herself, and they rushed inside, guns out. It was extremely dark inside the building, and even their flashlights didn't provide much light. Except for the front door, there were no doors in the building. Nothing to hide behind. Just empty rooms. They checked apartment after apartment, and found nothing.

Finally, they reached the top floor. They could hear faint crying coming from one of the apartments. They walked through the rooms carefully, and finally they found Alicia, curled up in the corner of one of the rooms. Amy stayed with her and tried to calm her down while Reid continued searching. He looked through the entire apartment, but Mark was nowhere to be found.

He went back towards the room where Amy and Alicia were, but stopped as soon as he reached the doorway. Amy was exactly as he had left her, kneeling on the ground across from Alicia, but now she was looking to the other side of the room. Her gun wasn't in her hand. She didn't appear to have seen Reid. By angling himself slightly, Reid could see a man standing in to corner, pointing a gun at Amy.

"You tried to take her away from me," the man said. His voice was deep, but it shook. The man was obviously unstable. "You tried to turn her against me and take her away," he repeated.

"No, I didn't do that. You did. The second you killed that first girl, you took yourself away from her," Amy replied.

"Liar!" he yelled. "I did it all for her. Alicia knows that. Just like this will be for her." He moved his hand, right away Reid knew he was going to fire. He was about to kill Amy. Knowing he had no other option, Reid pointed his gun and pulled the trigger. Mark Bradley fell to the ground. Alicia rushed over.

"He's dead," she said flatly.

"Are you okay?" Reid asked her.

"I'm fine. Thanks. You saved my life there," she replied.

"Don't mention it," Reid told her.

A few minutes later, they were outside on the street. Alicia was in an ambulance, on her way to the hospital. Mark had been put into a body bag and taken away. The rest of the team was relieved to find Reid and Amy both fine.

"We'll leave tomorrow afternoon. Reid, O'hara, nice job," Hotch said. The rest of the team got into their cars and drove off, leaving Reid and Amy alone again.

"So Reid. My offer to show you the city, that still stands," Amy said.

"If it'll shut you up, I'm in," he replied with a smile on his face.

**A/N: What, you think it's over? Not a chance. I have many more plans for this story before it ends. Besides, I'm having too much fun making up serial killer MOs. Hey, it is **_**not**_** disturbing! As if you people never thought up creative ways to kill people. Haha, just kidding. But there is still much more to this story. I'm looking forward to the next chapter, just some fun and quality time for Amy and Reid. Review this chapter, get... uhhh... imaginary bubble wrap? I told you, I'm running out of reward ideas! Review anyway!**


	11. The City

"So, Dr. Reid, what do you think of New York City so far?" Amy asked. She hadn't shown him much, but she felt like asking anyway.

"Well already I can tell one thing. This has to be the wierdest city I've come across in a long time," Reid answered.

"What? Are you kidding, this place isn't wierd!" Amy replied.

"Amy, there's a guy standing in Times Square playing guitar wearing nothing but a cowboy hat, cowboy boots, and underwear," Reid argued.

"That's Naked Cowboy. He was even running for mayor for a few months before withdrawing from the race," Amy said. Reid looked at her. "Ok, I'll admit that's a little strange. But where did you grow up then?" she asked.

"I grew up in Las Vegas, Nevada," Reid answered. Now it was Amy's turn to give a look. "What?" Reid asked.

"You grew up in _Vegas_, and you're going to call New York wierd? That's a joke, right?" Amy laughed.

"I will admit that the strip is filled with unusual people, but parts of Las Vegas are completely normal," Reid argued.

"Yeah, I'll believe that when I see it," Amy joked. "Come on, you've barely seen anything! Do you know how fast we'll have to move if I want to show you all the famous sights in _one night_?" she asked.

"Do I want to know?" Reid replied.

"Probably not," she answered with a smile. "Let's go to Rockerfeller Center. I used to go see the tree there every year. I wonder how big it is this year," Amy mused. She pulled Reid by the arm of his jacket and hurried along the crowded sidewalks. She had forgotten just how much she really did love it here, under the lights.

Reid was already tired, but he was having too much fun with Amy to care. Suddenly she had just turned into an overgrown child on Christmas day. And he was glad that he finally got to see the city without being there for work. Everything looked different when you weren't desperately trying to stop a serial killer.

When they got to Rockerfeller Center, both of their eyes widened at the size of the tree. It was huge, and decorated beautifully. "Bet they don't have _that_ in Vegas," Amy said.

"Not like this," Reid admitted. They were silent for a few minutes, staring at the tree.

"Hey Reid, can you ice skate?" Amy asked.

"I've never tried before, but I strongly doubt it's a good idea," he answered.

"Oh. Too bad, we're going to do it anyway!" she said.

Reid tried to protest, but five minutes later they were both on the rink and Rockerfeller Center. Reid struggled to stay standing while Amy sped around the rink like a pro. "What's wrong, Spencer? I thought you knew everything, doesn't that big brain have a how-to guide on skating?" she joked, laughing.

Reid was about to answer when he slipped, but she glided over and stopped him before he hit the ground. Soon they were both laughing. "Okay, let's go do something slightly less dangerous for you," Amy said.

A few hours later, she had shown him most of the major sights and had switched to showing him some of her favorite places. Even if she hadn't been to the city in a few years, she still remembered where he favorite spots were. She had so many, they didn't spend more than fifteen minutes at any particular place.

Before long their skin was red from the cold and their breath came out in fog, but they were both having too much fun to care. Neither of them could remember ever having this much fun before, and they planned on making it last as long as they could. Walking along the sidewalk, Amy tripped, but Reid caught her before she fell. The would up with his arms around her waist, hers around his neck.

"So, that makes the third time you've saved me," Amy said with a smile. "Maybe you really are some sort of guardian angel," she muttered.

"Or just in the right place at the right time," Reid suggested, but her words made him smile. He didn't think he'd mind being Amy's guardian angel one bit. They moved closer, but suddenly something small and white fell between them. Amy looked up.

"Spence, it's snowing," Amy said. And it was. The snow had just started, but already it was coming down hard.

"We should find somewhere to relax for a little while instead of still wandering around," he suggested. Amy thought for a moment.

"I've got the perfect place. It's not far from here. Last I heard, one of my old friends works there now," Amy suggested. Ten minutes later, they were there. They sat in chairs angled toward both the stage and each other. Amy watched the stage intently. Her old friend had become a singer now.

"You know, she's the friend I was visiting the night I was taken," Amy started. Reid said nothing, only looked at her and waited for her to continue. "That was the last time she ever saw me. She wasn't able to visit me at the hospital, she came to see me at my house the day after they let me out. But I was already gone. I've had no communication with her at all since that night. I only knew she worked here because my parents told me. They remembered how close we were, even if I didn't."

"You think she'll recognize you?" Reid asked. Amy shrugged.

"Might, might not. I'm not sure which I'm hoping for. But it's definitely nice to see she's doing okay. She worried me sometimes," she replied. They didn't talk much for the rest of the performance, but somehow Reid's hand wound up holding Amy's. When they were getting ready to leave, a voice sounded behind them.

"Amy?" it called.

"Rosa," Amy replied.

"Oh my god, it really is you!" Rosa cried, throwing her arms around Amy. "I've missed you so much. I am so sorry I let you walk home by yourself Amy. I never should have. I thought you hated me," Rosa said.

"I never hated you. Not for one second did I ever blame you, so you shouldn't either. I was running away from what happened to me instead of dealing with it. I didn't realize that until a friend said it to me," Amy said with a quick glance at Reid, who was standing next to her.

"Oooh, who's this? Do we need to do some more catching up, Amy?" Rosa asked, interested. Amy laughed. Rosa always had been into Amy's love life.

"This is Dr. Spencer Reid. We work together," Amy said.

"Doctor? So what are you Amy, like a nurse?" Rosa asked.

"Actually, they're P., three of them," Reid explained. Rosa looked at him for a minute.

"Geez, and I thought _you_ were a genius, Amy. But so what exactly do you guys do?" Rosa asked.

"We're with the FBI now. We just solved a case and I thought I'd show Spence around the city," Amy answered. "As much as I hate to say this, we've really got to go. We've got to drive back over to Jersey to get to our hotel, and the rest of our team's probably wondering where we are. We're flying back home tomorrow," Amy explained. Rosa's face visibly fell.

"But hey, I'll start visiting now. And every now and then I'll send you a plane ticket and you can come stay by me. We're going to keep in contact this time," Amy insisted. Rosa grinned. After a few more words of goodbye, Amy and Reid left and walked back over to their car.

"Hey Spence?" Amy said after a few minutes of silence.

"Yeah?" he answered.

"Thanks," she replied.

"For what?" he questioned.

"For making me realize that I _was_ running away. I'm really glad I got reassigned to the BAU," she said. Reid smiled.

"No problem, Amy. Anytime."

**A/N: Wow, I think that's like my fifth chapter today! Why am I more productive sick than healthy? Nothing about me makes sense. Anyway, let's get out that collective "aww" now. Okay, on three. 1... 2... 3- AAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWWW! Everybody feel better now? Great! No, they're not together now. Not officially. But now it's very obvious that there is something between them. How will it affect their jobs? Will the rest of the team notice? Why am I asking you all these questions I already know the answer to? Only I know! There's still some imaginary bubble wrap left over, so people who review this chapter can have that and some imaginary cookies. Review please!**


	12. Rain

The team had gotten back to Quantico only a few hours ago, but already they were preparing to head back in to the office. That night in New York City was still so fresh in Amy's mind. She was so happy to have reconnected with her old friend, but there was more to it than that. She couldn't help but wonder what would have happened between her and Reid if the snow hadn't started falling at that very second.

Would anything have happened at all? She thought something would have, but she wasn't sure. She wasn't sure if she wanted something to have happened. She was sure they had pushed the boundaries of the Bureau employee fraternization codes. Was she willing to keep pushing those boundaries? Was she willing to even break the rules completely?

Thinking about it, she suspected she was. But only if Reid was too. She was way too nervous to initiate any rule-breaking of that kind. And maybe Reid didn't want anything to have happened on that sidewalk. Sure, his hand had found hers as they listened to her old friend sing, but she wasn't quite sure who started that. Maybe it was only a friendship thing to him.

In his apartment, Reid was thinking about Amy just as sure as she was thinking about him. He couldn't remember ever feeling like this before. The closest he'd ever felt to this was with Lila Archer, but it wasn't anywhere near as strong as this. This had just come up and hit him hard. He was surprised by his own feelings for the girl he had saved four years ago.

When she had called him a guardian angel, he had to ignore his heart skipping a beat. But he could not deny the fact that it was something he wanted to be to her. He just wasn't sure if she said what she truly felt, or if she was just caught up in the joy of being somewhere she loved for the first time in years. He knew it could happen.

Outside, the rain was falling hard. Every member of the team drove slowly and carefully, struggling to see through the downpour. Amy and Reid wound up arriving first, even before Hotch. They got to the doors at the same time. At first, they had worried that things might become akward after the rush of the moment died out, but things weren't akward at all. Neither of the could remember feeling so comfortable with another person.

Amy smiled and spoke first. "It's really coming down out there, isn't it? It's raining cats and dogs!" she joked.

"Did you know that the phrase 'raining cats and dogs' originated in seventeenth-century England? During heavy rainstorms, many homeless animals would drown and float down the streets, giving the appearance that it had actually rained cats and dogs," Reid said. Amy was silent, looking at him. _Oh great, now what did I do?_ he thought. To his surprise, she started laughing.

"I was going to ask you why you knew that, but then I remembered you know everything," she said. Reid smiled.

"Well, not everything," he said. _Like I don't know what to do about you_, he thought. But he wound up laughing too.

'I hear it's snowing again up in New York," Amy commented. Her mind drifted back there and she pulled it back. Reid had to do the same.

"Really? You know, I really liked it there," Reid said.

"I though naked cowboy scared you off," she teased.

"Yeah, well it's got other good qualities," he said. "You should let me show you Las Vegas sometime. I'll prove that it does have normal areas." She smiled.

"You're on, Dr. Reid," she replied. Soone the rest of the team arrived and everybody was at their desks or in their offices. Suddenly, JJ rushed into the room.

"Everybody, conference room, now," she said.

Not long after, they were all seated at the round table in the conference room. "I'm sorry guys. I know we just got back but we've been called in on an emergency. A man in Boston started a killing spree this morning. He's already killed ten people," JJ explained.

"This morning alone?" Reid asked, surprised.

"Yes, and it looks like he's not finished. He's got three guns, one of which he took from a police officer he killed. We don't have a name, but they're working on getting it," she said.

"So basically we go in, find out what made this guy snap, and use that to find out where he'll go next?" Amy asked.

"Basically. That makes it sound much easier than it really is though. Oh, and a few of the shootings were outdoors. It's snowing in Boston. The snow washed away a lot of the evidence," JJ explained.

"Well we'll do the best with what we can. Wheels up in ten," Hotch said. As they filed out of the conference room, Amy would up walking next to Reid.

"Look at that. We'll get to see some snow after all, Spence," she said before walking ahead to grab her stuff. Suddenly Morgan was walking next to him.

"Spence, huh? Aren't you getting awfully close to our newest team member. What _did_ you guys do in New York City?" Morgan teased.

Reid rolled his eyes. "I told you, she showed me her favorite places after we finished most of the big sites, and we ran into her old friend," he said. It wasn't a lie. Morgan asked what they did. Not what they may have almost done.

"Sure, kid. Whatever you say," Morgan replied.

**A/N: Short chapter, but I couldn't just dive into a new case. The last chapter needed some form of a closure in it. And uh oh, Morgan's on to them! And even if this chapter is short, it's like my sixth one today! My writing section of my brain is tired, but my imagination section has been saying "suck it up" all day and it has been very rude. There's still some bubble wrap left, and now I've got those styrofoam packing peanuts too. And chocolate. Mmmmmmm, chocolate. Review please!**


	13. Helpless

There wasn't much the team could do from the plane. They had very little to go on for this case, just a man on a seemingly random killing spree. That didn't give much opportunity to start working on the plane. The team had tried to get something done in the beginning, but they just didn't have enough information.

Eventually, everybody just wound up doing their own thing. Hotch was still looking over the case files, knowing there was nothing really there but still desperate to find something. Rossi was just staring out the window. Morgan and Prentiss both had headphones on, listening to music. JJ was staring at her phone, hoping for more information to come through. Reid had a book open, and Amy was planning on reading too but found herself staring at Reid.

"Do you really read that fast?" she asked after a while. It seemed impossible.

"Yeah, I do. You see, our subconcious minds-" he started.

"Spence, yes or no is fine. As much as I wind up learning when you talk, that doesn't need a long explanation," she interrupted, smiling. She actually loved it when he stated random facts like that, but sometimes she had no clue what he was saying and she was hoping for a little conversation. Everybody else was too absorbed in what they were doing to pay any attention to Reid and Amy.

"You know, sometimes you make me wonder how a person's brain can retain that much information. How in the world do you do it?" she joked.

"I dunno, I guess I've always been able to," he answered with a smile. There was silence for a few minutes. Even though they knew their team mates weren't paying attention, they still had ears and eyes, and that made things akward. Eventually Reid went back to his book, and Amy put hers away and just stared out the window.

When the team finally arrived at the precinct, the place was all over. People were panicked. Apparently this guy had killed five more people while the team was on their way over, and now he had disappeared. They still didn't have a name, just some poor-quality security video and conflicting witness descriptions. The BAU could tell this was going to be difficult.

"You'll definitely want to increase patrols, every available officer should be out on the street," Hotch told the lead detective on the case. "Get that camera footage to Garcia, see if she has some sort of program that can make the image clearer, and if she does then get her to run it through a facial recognition software. Reid, geographical profile. JJ, try to handle the press. Everybody else, get out on the street. Boston's a big city, so split up and try to find this guy. Be careful, he's already made it obvious he doesn't care about killing law enforcement," Hotch told the team.

Reid was a little worried about Hotch sending Amy out on her own. It was only her second case with the BAU. Surely she hadn't encountered anything like this back in the sex crimes unit. This unsub was killing random people for no apparent reason. But he knew she wouldn't want him to say anything. Her pride wouldn't allow it. He kept his mouth shut and started trying to come up with a geographical profile.

Amy wandered around out on the streets, not entirely sure what she was looking for but determined all the same. They guy was carrying three guns, surely she'd be able to spot him. And even if the videos hadn't been clear, she knew the basics of what the guy looked like, and what he was wearing. Only question was to why he was doing this and where he was headed next.

Suddenly, there were gunshots nearby. Amy pulled her gun out and ran in the direction of the shots. As she ran, she called into her radio. "Shots fired!" she yelled, telling them the street names. She got there just as the unsub was running around the corner. She ran to catch him, with her gun out in front of her, but when she turned the corner he was gone.

Frustrated, she turned back and went to see if anybody was alive. She could hear sirens in the distance, getting closer by the second. She counted the victims. Seven this time. She looked at them all and suddenly realized that one was still breathing. It was a little boy. She rushed over to him. They boy had been hit in the stomach. She took off her jacket, exposing herself to the freezing air and still-falling snow, and pressed it to the wound, trying to stop the bleeding. None of the other victims were breathing.

_Where the hell is the amublance?_ she thought. She knew it would be a little hard to get there with the traffic and the snow, but she was afraid the little boy would die if they didn't get there soon. The little boy opened his eyes, and she could see the terror in them. He started to cry and Amy wondered where his parents were.

"Shh, shh, it's ok. You're going to be ok. Can you tell me you name?" she asked gently.

"A- Aiden. Where's my mommy?" he cried.

"I don't know sweetie, but we'll find her. Just stay calm, you'll be ok," she told him. Finally the ambulance arrived. She was going to leave the little boy with the medics, but he cried for her.

"Please don't leave!" he begged. She didn't have the heart to refuse him. She agreed to ride in the ambulance with the little boy. He was terrified of everything in the ambulance, she knew he'd probably never been in one before. She could only imagine the little boy's pain.

"His heart rate's dropping!" one of the medics called. Amy's heart skipped a beat.

"Aiden, Aiden you stay with me," she told him. She tried asking him questions to keep him aware. "Can you tell me how old you are?" she asked.

"Six," he answered.

"Six, that's a good age to be. I need you to stay here, okay? Don't go anywhere. I'm Amy, stay with me, okay?" she told him.

By the time they finally got to the hospital, little Aiden was unconcious and they rushed him straight into sugery, leaving Amy in the waiting room. She wanted to make sure he would be okay, so she planned on staying. She called Hotch to let him know what had happened.

Hotch walked into the BAU's temporary corner of the precinct. "There's been another shooting, Amy's at the hospital," he said. Reid, in the middle of marking locations on a map, froze, panicked.

"What happened? Is she okay?" he asked, his worry obvious.

"She's fine, but there's a survivor this time. A six year old boy," Hotch answered, It was difficult for him to hear about that kind of thing. He thought of Jack, and wished he was with him.

"Want me to go down to the hospital?" Reid asked, knowing it would be difficult for Hotch to see a boy around Jack's age hurt like that. Hotch nodded. A while later Reid was walking into the waiting room. It was mostly empty. he walked up to the front desk. "Excuse me, I'm looking for a little boy who was brought in a little while ago with a gunshot wound, there was probably a woman with him," he said.

"Room 113," the nurse answered. Reid assumed Amy would be there and walked to the room. Sure enough, she was sitting in a chair next to the little boy's bed.

"Spence," she said when she saw him.

"Hey. Are you alright?" he asked.

"If you're asking if I'm injured, then I'm fine," she replied.

"But are you alright otherwise?" he asked. She sighed.

"I'm not sure. He begged me to stay with him. He was so scared, I couldn't leave him alone. I just hope he saw the unsub and remembers what he looked like," she said.

"Where are his parents?" Reid asked her.

"I don't know. I think at least one of them was shot too. Even if I'm already pretty sure I know the answer, please just tell me; were there any more survivors?" she asked.

"No, there weren't," Reid admitted.

"I guess we've got to find this kid's parents then. His first name's Aiden, we can get a last name when he wakes up," she said. She hesitated, then continued. "I was so close. I saw him turn the corner down the street, but when I got there he had just vanished! How does a man carrying three guns manage to blend into a crowd when there were gunshots heard seconds earlier?"

"I don't know, but we're going to find him. Garcia managed to sharpen the image enough to clearly see his face, and she's running it through facial recognition software now. His picture is everywhere," he told her.

"You've seen stuff like this before?" she asked. He nodded.

"Worse," he admitted.

"Does it ever get easier?" she asked.

"I don't know if you'd call it easier. I think you just learn to deal with it better," he replied. She nodded.

"Thanks," she said.

**A/N: Awwwwwww with the hurt little boy! That part made me really depressed but I needed there to be a survivor (you'll find out why). Only my mind knows why it had to be a little kid, but it's not going to tell me any time soon. This was supposed to get out earlier today, but there was some rather annoying relationship drama. The boyfriend's getting all jealous of my other guy friends. Thank goodness he doesn't know I'm bi, or he'd be jealous of every non-family member I talked to! Now that I've bored you with my mundane day to day drama, I can tell you that people who review this chapter get an imaginary zeppoli. MMMMMMMM those are good. Review!**


	14. Kiss

While Amy and Reid waited for little Aiden to wake up, Hotch called Reid's phone with some new information. "We've got a name," he said.

"What is it?" Reid asked.

"Jonathan Frankton. We've got his wife down here now, she saw the picture on the news and recognized him. Apparently he went into a psychotic break after his daughter was raped and murdered about two weeks ago," Hotch explained.

"Well then why is he killing random people?" Reid wondered.

"We can only speculate on that, but now that we have a name and a clear picture, we're hoping somebody will see him and call us," Hotch said.

'Right," Reid replied.

"Oh, and how's the kid doing?" Hotch asked.

"We're waiting for him to wake up now, the doctors say he should be okay. Amy's pretty sure that at least one of his parents was shot there with him. We're going to get his last name when he wakes up so we can contact his family," Reid explained.

"Alright. Do that, and then get back down here. Both of you," Hotch said, and hung up.

When Reid went back into the room, little Aiden was stirring. "I think he's waking up," Amy whispered. Sure enough, not two minutes later the little boy was awake, obviously terrified. He seemed to relax a bit when he saw Amy. "Hi Aiden. Do you remember me?" she asked. The boy nodded. "Good. How are you feeling?" she asked.

"I'm tired, and it hurts," he said. "Where's my mommy?" he asked. Amy and Reid looked at each other.

"Was your mother with you when you got hurt?" Reid asked. The boy nodded again.

"Was your daddy with you too?" Amy asked. The boy shook his head. "Okay, can you tell me your last name? Then we can get your daddy down here," she said.

"My last name is Miller. I'm Aiden Miller. Daddy is Ethan Miller. Mommy is Faith Miller," he told them.

"Okay, we're going to go get your daddy now," Amy said.

"No! Miss Amy, don't leave me alone," he cried.

"I won't. Spence, do you think you can contact his father?" she asked.

"Of course," he answered. A few minutes later, Reid was standing in the waiting room, waiting for Ethan Miller to arrive. Mr. Miller didn't know the details of his son's condition, nor did he know about his wife's death yet. Even if Reid wasn't the best with people, he knew that it wouldn't be good to tell him all of that through a phone call. Finally, a man arrived. He looked just like little Aiden, so it was easy to tell who he was. "Ethan Miller?" Reid called. The man nodded. "I'm Dr. Reid, I'm with the FBI," he explained.

"Where's my son? Is he okay? Where's Aiden? And Faith? Where's Faith? What happened to them?" Mr. Miller asked, panicked.

"Mr. Miller, I'll take you to see your son in a minute. There's another agent with him right now. First there's some things you need to know. Your son was shot by the man who's been on a killing spree since this morning. They were worried at first, but it appears he'll make a full recovery," Reid started. He dreaded having to tell him about his wife, but he knew he needed to. "Your wife didn't make it."

Ethan Miller clearly didn't know how to handle this information. "Faith's... Faith's dead?" he asked. Reid nodded. "She was only twenty-six years old... Does Aiden know?"

"No, we didn't tell him yet," Reid said.

"Can I see him now?" he asked. Reid nodded.

"What exactly happened?" Mr. Miller asked as Reid guided him toward his son's room.

"I don't know all of the details, I wasn't at the scene. The agent with him now, Agent O'hara, she was just around the corner when it happened. By the time she got there the shooter had already vanished into the crowd on the next street, so she focused on keeping your son alive. She stayed with him in the ambulance, and has been with him since he got out of surgery," Reid explained. They reached the room and Amy, who was now standing nex to the bed, looked up.

"Daddy!" Aiden yelled. Amy started to leave the room to give them some privacy. "Where are you going, Miss Amy?" Aiden asked.

"My friend and I have to go back to the police station now that your daddy's with you. We've got to catch the bad guy," she explained. Aiden nodded, showing he understood.

"Wait, Agent O'hara," Mr. Miller called. Amy paused. "Thank you so much for helping my son. And for staying with him through everything. If not for you I don't know if he'd be here right now," he said.

"Don't mention it. I'm just doing my job," she replied, and she and Reid set off down the hall. "Spence, what exactly did you tell that guy I did? He was talking to me like I was some kind of hero," Amy said.

"Amy, you saved his son's life. I think he would have spoken to you like that no matter what," he insisted. She gave him a look, but did not press the matter.

"So did you find out anything about his mother?" she asked.

"Mr. Miller didn't say much about her. Just that she was only twenty-six. He was in too much shock to say anything else," Reid told her.

"Only twenty-six," Amy repeated. That was only two years older than her. Was life really that delicate that it could be snatched away in an instant, even from somebody who had barely begun their life? Of course, she had always known that people, even young people, died every day, it hadn't hit her like this before. She didn't want to spend life wondering what could happen or what might have happened. "Hey Spence?" she said. They were out on the street now.

She had stopped walking, and he turned around to stand directly in front of her. It was still snowing, and she had ruined her jacket by using it to stop the blood from Aiden's injury. She only had a tee-shirt on now. Reid saw that and took off his own jacket. "Here. You're going to freeze like that," he said. Amy didn't protest, just slid the jacket on.

"Thanks. And Spence?" she said.

"Yeah?" he asked. And with that, Amy threw her arms around his neck and kissed him, right there on the street. After a moment's hesitation from surprise, Reid wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed her back. It didn't matter that there was an unsub in a psychotic break out there. It didn't matter that they were supposed to be on their way back to the station. Right then, they were the only two people in the world. Suddenly, there was a voice behind them, clearly shocked.

"_Reid?_"

**A/N: Whoa, there is no way I just did that. I did **_**not**_** just do that. Yep, I just did that. On one hand, you've got the awwwww moment of them finally getting together. But on the other hand, who in the world caught them? I know, but you don't. Go ahead, guess. Leave your guess in the review section. If you guess it right I'll name a future character after you or something. But you will never guess. Never. Trust me. It's impossible. Happy guessing!**


	15. Elle

Amy and Reid jumped apart. They were breaking the rules, and they had just been caught. But when they found the source of the voice, it was somebody Amy didn't recognize. Reid, however, did.

"_Elle?"_ he asked, shocked. He hadn't seen or heard from Elle Greenaway in years. Not since she left the team. Yet here she was, standing on this snowy Boston sidewalk.

"Long time so see, kid," she replied.

"Yeah. Um, this is Agent Amy O'hara," Reid said, nervously.

"Agent? I have to say Reid, I never pinned you as much of a rule breaker. And you, your name sounds familiar," she said.

"Um, you probably remember it from the Cliffside serial killer. I was the survivor," Amy explained.

"Oh," Elle replied.

"Elle, what are you doing here?" Reid asked.

"I could ask you the same thing, Reid. But I'm assuming you're here because of that shooter in the city. Has Gideon found the missing link and saved the day yet?" she asked sarcastically.

"No, Elle. Gideon left. A long time ago," Reid explained. "We've got to get back to the station now," he insisted. Not waiting for an answer, he grabbed Amy's arm and lead her to the car. They did not discuss what had happened between them.

"Why did Agent Greenaway leave?" Amy asked, curious.

"Well she was cleared, but we're pretty sure that she shot a suspect in cold blood. She told us he rushed at her, but her behavior leading up to the shooting calls that into question. She resigned not long after," he explained.

"Oh," she replied. The rest of the ride back to the station was quiet, and Amy was sure that this was an akward silence. Maybe she shouldn't have been so bold back there. She knew how she felt about him, but how could she know if he returned those feelings? So what if he had kissed her back? Maybe he'd just gotten caught up in the moment.

Over in the driver's seat, Reid was completely oblivious to Amy's distress. He was still shocked that she had kissed him. Shocked, but pleased. Elle's appearance had ruined the moment, but at least it wasn't somebody from the team. Because Elle was right: a relationship between Reid and Amy was against the rules. But if she was willing to break them, then he was too.

As out of character as that was for him, he was sure he would. They'd have to keep it from the team, though. Hotch might be okay with Kevin and Garcia, but they weren't both on the team. Hotch wouldn't be worried about their relationship affecting their ability to do their jobs. But with he and Amy, both on the same team, both out in the field, it didn't seem like something Hotch would be okay with.

By the time Reid noticed that, except for asking about Elle, Amy had been silent the entire car ride, they were already back at the station. He would have asked her about it before they went inside, but Morgan was arriving at the same time. He'd have to wait. He, Amy, and Morgan were the last of the team to get back, everybody else was already there.

"Alright, now that we're all here. JJ, hold a press conference. Tell people to stay inside their homes, so far he's only been attacking randomly on the street. We know he's in a psychotic break after what happened to his daughter, but we need to find out exactly what he's thinking. For that, I've got the files on his daughter's case. His wife went back home in case he shows up there, there's undercover police officers parked out front. We need to find why he's attacking where he's attacking and where he's going next. I want everybody looking through these files to try and figure that out," Hotch commanded.

Not long after, the team was still buried in files with no clue as to why the unsub was choosing these locations. They just hoped it wasn't entirely random, because that would make it impossible to predict where he was headed next. Reid picked up the next paper, it was a detailed account of what the victim had done the day she was killed. Suddenly, he had the connection.

"Guys, he's going through his daughter's last day alive! He started at the supermarket she had visited that morning. Next was a clothing boutique, and then the restaurant she had stopped at for lunch," Reid explained.

"Then where's he going next?" Morgan asked.

"The aquarium, it's believed that's where she met up with her killer. After that the only other place for him to go is the hotel she was found in," Reid answered. Suddenly, there was a yell from across the room.

"Damn bastard struck again! He killed fifteen people at the aquarium, and now he's gone again," an officer yelled.

'Looks like he's headed for the hotel where they found his daughter's body now," Rossi said.

"Hotch, how do you think he plans on ending this?" Emily asked.

"Judging by the rest of his behavior? Suicide by cop, taking as many people with him as he can," Hotch answered. "Come on, we've got to get to that hotel before him," he added. The team rushed out to the cars, hoping they'd be able to stop this man before any more lives were lost.

**A/N: As I predicted, nobody guessed. Some of you were thinking along the right lines, however. I'm talking about those who guessed it would be Gideon. Close, very close. You guys get credit for thinking the right way. But would Gideon really call him Reid? I think he'd call him Spencer, like he did in his goodbye letter. I don't know why I chose Elle, the idea just popped into my brain. And if it pops into my brain, it'll get refined and then typed into my computer. It think it was partially to freak you guys (and them) out. I've got my other reasons, but you'll have to continue reading to find those. And yes, this chapter's a little short, but they'll get back to a better length soon. Better quality too, this is one of my less favorite chapters. Oh well. Review!**


	16. The Hotel

When the team got to the hotel, Jonathan Frankton, the unsub, still had not arrived. The team rushed to clear the lobby. They sent the people who had rooms to their hotel rooms and told everybody else to get out. The snow was still coming down hard outside, making many people reluctant to go outside. The team didn't want to start a panic, so they couldn't tell everybody why they were evacuating, they just had to force the people out.

They had been at the hotel for nearly ten minutes now, and there was still no sign of him. Amy and Reid still had not spoken since the car, and he was starting to notice that something was wrong with her. He had no idea that if he had just asked her if she was alright, it would have given her the reassurance she needed, shown her that he wasn't upset about what she did.

But instead he assumed she didn't want to talk about what was bothering her. The thought that it could have something to do with the kiss on the sidewalk crossed his mind, but he dismissed it and figured it was something to do with the case. Or maybe the little boy she had saved. He was pretty sure it was about that.

Another five minutes went by, and the team began to wonder where the unsub was. They were sure he was headed to the hotel, and he should have been there by now. They knew he hadn't already been caught because it would have been called over the police radio. They had heard nothing since the shootings at the aquarium.

Suddenly, there were screams from one of the upper floors, followed by gunshots. Running up the stairs, the team split up and searched the hallways, starting with the first floor. Sure enough, Morgan found a couple on the floor. He checked them, and they were dead. They now knew the unsub was in the building, but not where he was or how he got in.

The couple that he had already killed had left their room, but the team knew it wouldn't be long before the he started killing people in their rooms. Amy was headed down a hallway when she saw a man walking down the other end.

"Excuse me, sir! You need to get back to your room, now," she called, hurrying towards him. When he turned she recognized him and saw that he had a gun in his hand, which he pointed at her. She ducked into a doorway just as he fired. He had been aiming for her chest, which he missed, but he still managed to just nick her upper right arm. It wasn't too serious, but it still hurt like hell. She heard him start to run in the other direction, and she switched her gun to her left hand and took off in pursuit.

She chased him up to the third floor, and knew the team was likely still on the first looking for another murdered couple, as they had definitely heard the shot from when he fired at her. She turned a corner into a new hallway, and he was gone. He had disappeared into one of the rooms in the hallway.

Her heart pounding, she slowly moved down the hallway, looking for an open door. Finally, she found one. Carefully, she went in, her gun out in front of her. She saw him on the bed, crying and holding his own guns. The room appeared to be vacant. When he saw her, he again pointed his gun at her.

"You don't want to do that," she reasoned. "Your daughter wouldn't want that. She wouldn't want you to hurt innocent people, or to destroy your own life. Think of all the people you killed today. What did they ever do to hurt you?" she said.

"I had to do it, I had to! And now I have to do this," he answered, changing the position of the gun so it was no longer pointing at Amy. Now he was holding it to his head.

"Don't! Think of your wife! She lost her daughter, don't take away her husband too. Your wife needs you. She's just as sad and angry about what happened to your daughter as you are. Please, she loves you, and she needs you. Just put the gun down, and we can get you help," Amy pleaded. She didn't expect him to listen, but he did.

He put the guns down and broke down. Ignoring the excruciating pain in her injured arm, Amy rushed to the bed and cuffed him before calling the team on her radio. She knocked the guns away from him and put her hand over her injury, waiting for the team to arrive. Morgan got there first, grabbing Frankton and pulling him off the bed, leading him out of the room and down the stairs, with Amy following.

The rest of the team met up with them in the hallway, and Amy explained how she had gotten him to drop his weapons.

"You're bleeding," Reid said, noticing her arm.

"It's nothing, just a little cut. Luckily I moved at the last second, or it could have been worse," Amy replied.

"He _shot_ you?" he asked, shocked.

"I told you, it's nothing," she insisted.

"Yeah right. Come on. We've got an ambulance out front in case somebody got hurt," he said.

"I am not going to the hospital," she told him.

"Will you at least let them look at it?" he pleaded.

"Fine," she replied. About half an hour later, there was a large bandage on her arm and she was beginning to get anoyed with the team constantly asking if she was okay. Outside, the snow had finally stopped.

"Well until they clear the runways, we can't head back to Quantico. So it looks like we're stuck here for another night," Hotch said. This clearly bothered him, as he wanted to get home to Jack. But the rest of the team didn't mind as much. They headed back to the hotel to spend one more night in Boston.


	17. Understand

_She was alone in the pitch dark room again. As before, she could see nothing but blackness, feel nothing but the cold and the pain. There was not a single part of her that did not hurt. She was sure she had just arrived here. Whatever drug he had injected when he grabbed her had mostly worn off, and while she was still groggy she was awake._

_ The fact that she was still groggy had not slipped her mind, and she knew the pain would be even worse when she was fully aware of what was going on. She felt the chains tight around her wrists, binding her to the pillar. There was a bit of loose chain, allowing her space to move around a bit. She tried to crawl over to a wall, hoping one would be near. _

_ As soon as she started the movement, she stopped it. The floor was covered in broken glass, cutting her skin with each little movement. Painfully, she tried to clear a small area of the glass to create a bit of a safe zone. Had she not been so terrified and pained, she might have laughed at that. A safe zone in hell. _

_ Suddenly, there was a different sound, one very out of place. A young boy was crying. Suddenly she could see a little bit, and the glass was gone. Snow somehow fell inside the room. Her chains tightened, making it impossible for her to move at all. She tried desperately to get to the crying boy. _

_ She couldn't quite explain it, but that boy needed her. She was sure of it. He cried and screamed for his mother. He was bleeding and scared. He saw her, begged her to help him. But the harder she tried to get to him, the tighter the chains became. The tighter the chains became, the louder the little boy screamed. Each scream pounded into her head like a hammer hitting a nail, but suddenly the boy stopped. He looked at her again, but he was dead this time. The dead boy spoke to her. "Why didn't you save me?" he asked. _

With a yell, Amy woke up from her nightmare. It had been just like so many others, except for the addition of the little boy. That was what made this dream so much worse. In every other dream, it had just been herself in pain, and the dream was just a repeat of what she'd already been through. She could handle that. But the boy made it so much worse.

She felt herself shaking, and she knew it wasn't from the cold. There were tears streaming down her face, and she felt pathetic. It had been four full years since she had been kidnapped, why was she still having nightmares about it? Was she weak? She hated that she could not stop these dreams from torturing her.

There was a knock on the door. Surprised, Amy wiped her eyes and went to it. She looked through the peephole and saw Reid standing there. Even more surprised, she opened the door.

"Spence? What are you doing here?" She asked.

"Can I come in for a few minutes?" he said.

"Yeah, sure," she replied. He stepped into the room and she closed the door behind him. "What do you need, Spence?" she asked.

"Amy, my room's right next to yours. I heard you scream," he told her.

"I'm fine," she insisted.

"You don't have to lie. We all get them. The nightmares. It doesn't make you weak. It makes you human," he told her. She was silent. "Amy, after what you went through it isn't surprising that you're having nightmares about it. Actually, you've recovered really well so far," he said.

"Recovered really well? Spence, it's been four years. How can you say that those nightmares are recovering well? Or what about the fact that I can't be in pitch black spaces? I always need to have a bit of light, or I'm so scared. Or the fact that anything put around my wrists freaks me out? How is that recovering well?" she argued.

"Amy, I know you don't want to admit it, but that is all completely normal. Yes, even four years after the fact, it's not out of the ordinary for this to happen. I understand what you're going through," he said.

"How can you understand?" she asked quietly.

"We were working on a case, a while back. Somebody was killing people and calling 9-1-1 from their own houses minutes before they were killed. We could hear three different people in the calls. Their webcams were being hacked too. JJ and I went to question what we thought was a wittness. Turns out that he was the unsub. He ran out to his barn, and I suggested JJ and I split up. He knocked me unconcious and kidnapped me. When I woke up, I realized that the unsub had Dissassociative Identity Disorder. Multiple personalities. He was living as three different people. He held, drugged, and tortured me for two days. He used a webcam to stream a lot of it back to the team, too. It was because of that I was able to drop enough hints for the team to find me. He was making me dig my own grave when they found me. Their flashlights approaching distracted him, and I grabbed his gun and shot him. Amy, I do understand some of what you're going through," he explained. She didn't need to know about the drugs, not yet. She didn't need to know how much stronger than him he was just yet.

"Spence, I... I had no idea," she said.

"So what happens in the dreams?" he asked.

"Usually it's just reliving what happened, but this time it was different. There was a little boy, he was hurt and screaming and crying. I tried to get to him but I couldn't, and then he was dead. He was dead, but he still asked me why I didn't save him," she explained, fighting to keep control of herself. To her surprise, Reid pulled her into a tight hug. She let herself stay there for a moment before pulling away.

"I- I'm sorry for today. On the sidewalk after we left the hospital. It was wrong for me to act so bodly, I should have considered the fact that you might not want me to do something like that," she said quietly. This caught Reid off guard. He noticed that she had been distant since that, but he'd never thought that she could be thinking he didn't want...

"Amy," he said. She didn't respond and kept staring at the floor. "Amy, I don't know what made you think I was upset about that. I wish you would have told me that was what you were so worried about!" he said.

"What?" she asked, confused. To answer her, he simply wrapped his arms around her again and kissed her. They stayed there for a little while longer, just talking and sharing an occasional kiss. Eventually Reid went back to his own room, saying that they both needed to get some sleep. But with the excitement of that night fresh in their minds, both knew sleep was not going to come.

**A/N: A little fluffy "awww"-ness there. I literally had to sit there and give myself a pep talk to get a chapter out today, I was so exhausted and my evil teacher gave me detention for no reason. I'm not joking, either. She's had it out for me since day one because she's offended that they would put a sophmore into her AP junior class. So now I come back from a full week of being absent to two detentions and a full week's worth of honors and AP work that I have to make up in two days. Oh, and I've got a bunch of tests tomorrow that I can't postpone. And I had to do my older brother's research paper. Arg I needed to do a nice soft fluffy chapter to make life seem less suckish. The boyfriend helps too, and so does my best friend who decided to send me these virtual facebook roses with a "get well soon" message. Lol it was so adorable! He's my Criminal Minds buddy!! Anyway, now that I've typed a boring paragraph about my personal life, review the story please! :)**


	18. Rosa

Time went by, and Amy O'hara found herself enjoying the best times in her life. She wasn't alone anymore. Even when she was young, back in highschool and surrounded by friends and admirers, she had still felt as if she was alone. Not anymore. If a case was getting to her, she had him. He was there for her, and she was there for him. It was something she wasn't used to, and she loved it.

One morning before she had to get up, she was still sleeping deeply. Somewhere in her house, a door opened. She jerked awake, sitting up. She was silent for a few seconds, then she heard the door close. Somebody was definitely in her house. She reached for the gun she kept in the top drawer of her bedside table. Silently, she got out of bed and set out to find the intruder.

She finally heard them in the hallway, just around the corner from where she was. She rushed around the corner and pointed her gun at the intruder. "Don't move!" She yelled.

"Geez Amy, calm down!" A voice called. The intruder jumped and put up their hands. It took a second for Amy to be calm enough to recognize them.

"Rosa, what the hell are you doing here?" she asked, still breathing heavily.

"I was just coming for a surprise visit. You told me back in New York we'd stay in touch. I didn't think you'd mind" Rosa replied.

"Y- you didn't think I'd mind you breaking into my house early in the morning? Are you insane?" Amy asked.

"Hey, you're the one who taught me how to pick locks like an expert back when we were teenagers. And how was I supposed to know that you'd point a gun at me?" she replied.

"I don't know, think hard. I told you that I was an FBI agent now. Don't you think you should have realized I'd carry a gun? And I understand that you have no idea what kind of cases my unit works, but maybe it would have been a good idea to err on the side of caution," Amy said, irratated.

"Come on, we used to do this all the time. You'd break into my place to wake me up, I'd break into yours to wake you up. I was just trying to invoke an old joke. Sorry," she finally apologized.

"Well don't just stand there! Now that you've nearly given me a heart attack, where's that excited greeting I think I deserve?" Amy said, cracking a smile.

A short while later, Rosa sat at the kitchen table while Amy cooked breakfast. "I've got to go to work in a little bit, you can stay here. Don't break anything," she joked.

"Me? Break something? Never," Rosa replied with a smirk.

"So are we just going to keep joking around or are you going to tell me about that ring on your finger?" Amy asked. She had noticed it almost right away, and was tired of waiting for Rosa to bring it up.

"Oh yeah, that's why I came down here in the first place. I wanted to tell you I'm engaged!" she said excitedly.

"I'm happy for you, and I'm happy to see you, but couldn't a phone call have sufficed? You could have at least told me you were coming. But aside from that, who's the lucky guy? Do I know him?" Amy asked. She remembered Rosa's tendency to go from boy to boy rather quickly in highschool, but she did often hold on to the emotionally for a long time.

"Maybe," Rosa teased. "But before I tell you about that, I want information about that guy you were with in New York."

"I'm not sure what you're talking about," Amy said, but she couldn't help but smile.

"Oh my God. You're totally with him, don't lie!" Rosa insisted.

"Ok, ok. Don't freak out! Yes, we're together. But you can't go shouting about that. Bureau employees aren't supposed to be dating each other. If you can't keep you mouth shut I will not be introducing you to anybody," Amy said.

"Oh, that's so romantic. Forbidden love! It's just like Romeo and Juliet!" she sighed.

"Ro, I know you never read the play, but you've got to know how Romeo and Juliet ends. I'd prefer it if you didn't compare my relationship to that," Amy told her. Their jobs were dangeous, and Amy didn't want to be comparing it to a story where the lovers died at the end.

"Geez, fine. Be like that. But did you or did you not want to hear about my fiance?" Rosa asked.

"Spill," Amy ordered, feeling almost like they were back in highschool again, talking about crushes and boyfriends.

"Well, you don't know him. His name's Chris. I met him like, a month after you left. He's going to come down here in a few days, when he can get off from work. I'll introduce you guys then. Oh, I just remembered something! I still keep in touch with a lot of people from highschool and I told them where I was going. A lot of them asked me to pass a message on to you," Rosa said.

"You... told them you were coming to see me?" Amy whispered.

"Should I not have?" Rosa asked, comfused.

"I... I'm not sure if I'm ready to face them again. In the scale of things four years doesn't sound like such a long time, but I'm not the same person I was then. To be honest, the girl they remember died the very night she was kidnapped. I'm not sure I want to bring her to the surface," Amy admitted.

"Amy, I could tell you were a completely different person the moment I saw you back in New York. I'm sorry if I'm bringing up things you want to forget, but these people care about you. You really worried them when you just took off like that, the least you can do is hear what they want to tell you," Rosa insisted.

Amy didn't answer, looking away. It was the that she noticed the clock. "Damn it, I've got to get going. You can stay here, I should be back later. Don't break anything," she said, forcing herself to crack a smile as she hurried out the door. She realized she'd never finished breakfast, but she wasn't really hungry anymore. Just unsettled. Nevertheless, she did stop for coffee on the way.

Amy arrived with minutes to spare. She sat down at her desk, running a hand through her hair.

'Rough morning?" Reid asked, sitting at his desk across from hers. He asked it in a lighthearted, joking tone, but Amy could see genuine concern in his eyes.

"You have no idea," she replied, able to crack a smile now that she was talking to him.

"Want to talk about it?" he asked, lowering his voice.

"Maybe later," she replied. Amy couldn't help but notice Morgan nearby, trying and failing to appear uninterested in their conversation. Reid instantly noticed too. Both fell silent and busied themselves with papers. But when Morgan looked away, they caught each others eyes and smiled, stifling a laugh.

**A/N: This chapter was supposed to be out a while ago, but as soon as my school cut to holiday break my parents decided to whisk me and my brothers away for some fun family vacation bonding time. That doesn't sound too bad, but you haven't met my family. The vacation was an attempt to fix our crumbling family relationships, but it only succeeded in worsening them. With my brother being a senior in highschool and about to go off to college soon, me withdrawing because I'm slowly going insane, and my younger becoming a world class d-bag, I can kind of understand their desire to fix things. But first they'd need to be able to spend five minutes together without screaming at each other. Sorry, I really needed to get that out and I can't talk to anybody around here. "Keeping up appearances" as my mother would put it. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this painfully late chapter, and I should be getting back on track with the chapters now. Review!**


	19. Cafe

Reid and Amy had plans to go out together after work, so Reid was hurrying through his end of the day routine. Organizing things, checking over papers, all of it was rushed because he knew Amy had already finished and was waiting in her car. They were going to her favorite cafe, and since he didn't know the way he'd be following her in his car.

"What's the rush there kid?" Morgan asked, appearing seemingly out of nowhere. Reid jumped a bit in surprise.

"Rush? What rush? I'm not rushing. Obviously because everybody else is already gone it should go to show that I am doing the opposite of rushing," Reid said, knowing he wasn't being very effective.

"Come on, kid. You think I don't know when you're hiding something? We're profilers, Reid. I consider you family, kid, and if I didn't know when something was up with my own family what kind of profiler would I be? Is this about Amy?" Morgan asked.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Reid said, but he was clearly flustered when Morgan mentioned Amy.

"Nobody else suspects that you two are anything more than friends. Except for Garcia, but she's really perceptive on that sort of thing," Morgan said, with a small smile. "But I know there's something between you two. Come on man, you can tell me."

"Well say there was something between Amy and me. If there was, she'd probably be waiting for me right now because we were planning on going out. And she'd also freak out if she found out that somebody on the team knew, because she'd probably be worried about the rules that prohibit Bureau employees from dating. All this is hypothetical, of course," Reid said, but it was clear that he was admitting it.

"Well then, hypothetically, you should be getting out of here and getting down to your girlfriend. And you wouldn't need to worry about a thing, your secret would be safe with me," Morgan replied, smirking.

With a smile, Reid hurried down to the parking lot. Amy started her car when she saw him, and when he had gotten into his own car and started it she pulled out. It was about a fifteen minute drive to the cafe, and when they arrived it was clear that the little place suited her perfectly. They hurried inside, rushing through the light drizzling rain that had started during the drive.

A few minutes later they were seated in a little corner booth, both with coffee in their hands. "Wow Spence, and I thought I put a lot of sugar in my coffee. Don't you have some random statistic about how too much sugar isn't good for you?" Amy joked.

"Yes, I've got several, but that's not what we're here to talk about. What happened this morning? You seemed upset," Reid said.

Amy spent the next few minutes explaining the events of that morning, from Rosa's unconventional entrance to her own hurried exit.

"So let me get this straight, she came to visit unannounced and thought it'd be funny to break into your house? What kind of friends did you have back in highschool that they're so good at breaking and entering?" Reid asked. He knew that that wasn't what was bothering her, but for some reason it felt that it'd be better if they went through everything slowly.

"Well she only thought it would be funny because we used to do that to each other all the time. Apparently she forgot that FBI agents carry guns. And as for being good at breaking and entering, don't judge her based on that. I'm the one that taught her in the first place," Amy explained. She ignored Reid's raised eyebrows at that comment.

"It's just... stressful, you know? When I left four years ago I never had any intention of going back. In any way. I said I was done with that place, those people, and all of the memories that happened there. Then I thought that it might not be too bad to let Rosa back into my life, it was only one person and she had been my best friend, after all. But I'm not ready to bring anybody else back. And the fact that she told everybody and even took messages from them... I just don't know if I'm ready. I know I said I was going to stop running, but..." she began.

"Amy, what you went through four years ago is something anybody would want to forget. If you want to take things slowly, take things slowly. Nobody in their right mind would hold that against you. Amy..." he said, putting his hand on hers.

"Even if I went through something similar, I can't imagine what you must have been thinking those two weeks. I know what he did, and the fact that you were able to come out of it and still be the person you are today amazes me. You're so much stronger than you realize. So if you don't feel ready to deal with messages from the people you left behind, then don't," he told her.

"Unfortunately I doubt Rosa is going to leave in at that. She'll insist I go through them," Amy said.

"So tell her no. Kick her out if you need to," Reid suggested.

"I can't do that! She didn't book a hotel until the day her fiance gets down here. She's got nowhere else to stay until then," Amy explained.

"So come stay with me. If she refuses to leave you alone and accept your decision, then you can come stay with me until she does," Reid replied simply.

"Spence, I couldn't intrude like that," Amy insisted.

"If I asked my girlfriend to stay over, she would not be intruding. Shouldn't you know that?" he said, with a small smile. Amy laughed.

"Rosa would never let me hear the end of it. But if it comes to that, I think I will stay with you after all. But hey, maybe she's gotten a bit more tactful than she was four years ago," Amy said, doubting it. "I should go. She's probably wondering where I am, I told her I'd be home right after work. She might forgive me if I tell her I was out with you, but I'll be hearing her complaints either way," she joked.

A few more words were exchanged, the tone of conversation more lighthearted now. Reid walked her to her car and kissed her goodnight before getting into his own car, and as he drove home he found himself hoping she would wind up staying with him. Not that he wanted her to have to deal with more stress. He just wanted his girlfriend to stay with him.

**A/N: What do you think? I'm pretty tired but I just can't fall asleep. (Thank you, insomnia.) It's almost four AM. I'll try to get another chapter out today, but I've got that homework I've been putting off. Nothing too bad, just an essay for my AP history class and an extremely simple worksheet for Driver's Ed. I'm so excited now because my sixteenth birthday is on the thirteenth. Yep, January thirteenth. In Jersey we don't get out permits until we're sixteen, and I can't wait to drive! Haha, sorry for that, it was a random spout of excitement. Anyway, review and I'll give you a virtual hug. Review please!**


	20. Music

Amy could hear music blasting from inside her house before she even opened the door. Loud and fast, the kind of music that plays as clubs. Amy assumed that, since it was still playing, nobody had complained, but she found that amazing. It was getting late and there were families with children on her street. She opened the door and was hit with an even louder wave of music.

She called Rosa's name, but she couldn't even hear herself over the music. She followed it to the source and found Rosa in the living room, grinning like nothing was wrong. Her grin changed to a look of confusion whe she saw Amy's face. Amy crossed the room and turned the stereo off. The sudden silence was almost as deafening as the music had been.

"Hey, what's with the bad mood? Turn the music back on. We'll have a two person party like we used to! Singing and dancing like idiots all night, it'll be fun," Rosa said, smiling again.

"Are you crazy? We're not teenagers any more. And I have neighbors, and they have children, you can't blast music so loud! I could hear it from out on the street," Amy told her.

"So? Who cares if we're not teenagers, we can still have fun. And why should I care about the neighbors and their kids? We never used to. We used to be even louder than this, even if we I never had such a sweet sound system. We would laugh at the neighbor's complaints, sometimes even get louder just to piss them off. Don't tell me you forgot?" Rosa replied.

"I didn't forget. I grew up. I actually like my neighbors and would rather not have them angry at me. You can't be saying you do this at your home?" Amy asked.

"Yep, I actually do. Still pisses the neighbors off just as much, and I still find it just as funny," Rosa answered, smirking.

"Well in my home, I'd prefer it if you acted like an adult," Amy answered. Rosa frowned.

"An adult? Um, hello, we're in our early twenties. These are the times when we're supposed to be out partying and having fun! Don't tell me you're turning into one of those stiff people we used to make fun of. Let's go out tonight. There's got to be some clubs around here," Rosa said.

"You're insane. I have work tomorrow. And I need to be rested to do my job, it's hard enough as it is, and I already don't get enough sleep. No way are we going to a club. We're going to go to sleep. You can go clubbing with your fiance when he gets here. For now, we're staying in. You found the guest room okay?" Amy asked.

Irratation was clear on Rosa's face, but she nodded. "Why are you late? You told me you'd be back a while ago," She asked.

'I went out with Spencer, we needed to talk about something. It's late. I'm going to sleep. Keep it down, okay?" Amy said.

"Wait, we didn't go through those messages I told you about!" Rosa called as Amy turned to go to her room.

"And we're not going to. If I change my mind, I'll let you know. But as of right now, I want nothing to do with those messages," Amy told her. Before Rosa got a chance to answer, Amy was in her room with the door closed.

A few hours later, Amy woke from another nightmare with a scream. It seemed that with each and every case the BAU handled, new things were added. The dreams just kept getting worse. As it was, she was shaking and breathing heavily. She'd almost forgotten somebody was over her house when Rosa entered her bedroom.

"You okay? It sounded like somebody was getting murdered in here," she said. She was smiling, at Amy realized she was trying to make a joke out of it.

"It isn't funny. Go back to the guest room, I'm fine," Amy insisted.

Rosa paused, looking at her, before speaking. "You know, maybe you got a nightmare caused by guilt? The guilt of refusing to hear the words of the people you abandoned? The ones that still love you and miss you and-"

'Ro, shut up!" Amy interrupted, calling her by the nickname they hadn't used in years. "Would you just shut up for all of three seconds? I told you I don't want to go through those messages," she said.

"Who the hell are you? The Amy I remember would be crazy excited that so many people wanted to talk to her. Remember? She'd go clubbing all the time and we'd party and not care, and we were friends with all of the cool people and we'd laugh at the losers who stayed home at night! I miss that girl, Aim. Where is she?" Rosa asked a little more softly, copying Amy and reverting back to their childhood nicknames.

"You really want to know? She died four years ago. She couldn't handle what happened. She died and became me. She's never coming back, so forget about her!" Amy insisted. The truth was that she'd almost forgotten what she had been like. She was ashamed of the person she used to be.

"She could come back, I know she could! If she just heard from her old friends, she could come back and we could be best friends just like we used to be," Rosa said.

"Ro, please. Just leave me alone. I don't want to go through the messages. Don't you dare ask me again!" Amy said.

"I will ask again, Aim. And again and again and again. I will not leave you alone until you go through them with me," Rosa answered stubbornly.

"Fine. Then I'm leaving," Amy replied. She got up and tossed a few things into a bag.

"Where do you plan on going, Aim? All the hotels are booked," Rosa told her.

"Well I'm not going to a hotel. I'll come back tomorrow after work. Keep this up, I'll leave again. See you tomorrow," She said, walking out the door.

As she drove toward Reid's apartment, she fought to keep her head. That conversation had really upset her, and she had to keep ordering herself not to cry. She was so upset that she didn't even notice it was after midnight until she was already standing outside his door. When she realized the time, she knocked very quietly. If he didn't answer, she'd go. She didn't feel right waking him up.

Reid wasn't sleeping, however, and he opened the door a few seconds after she knocked. "Amy?" he said, a little surprised. Then his expression changed when he saw her face. "Rosa?" he asked. She nodded. He pulled her into a hug. "I said you could stay here, and I meant it. Come on in," he told her.

He gave her his bed and said he'd sleep on the couch, and Amy didn't argue. But she found that she couldn't sleep, so she got up. Reid was already asleep on the couch, sitting up. Quietly as she could, she moved next to him and snuggled into his side. He woke up momentarily and slid his arm around her, and it was only a few minutes before the two of them fell asleep together on Reid's couch.

**A/N: Okay, how "awwww"-inducing was the the ending? I really feel my characters, so in the beginning I was getting kind of ticked off, then at the end I felt all happy again. Haha. Ignore me, I'm crazy. I love how writing always makes me feel better. I was upset before. My dad forgot what day my birthday was. You can totally see how that Holiday Break "bonding" was such a success right? Sorry I've got sarcasm issues. Anyway, a big thanks to all my reviewers, you guys keep the story going by making me happy and giving me reason to write when I feel so darn upset I just don't feel up to it. Hugs for you all! *Hugs* Plenty more hugs to go around for future reviewers too! Unless you have personal space issues, then I will just nod agreeably from a comfortable distance. Review!**


	21. Copycat

Amy woke up to the smell of food cooking. The previous night came back into her memory rather quickly, preventing the moment of panic she usually had when waking up in a strange place. She opened her eyes and sat up. She was still on the couch, but Reid was not. Running a hand through her hair, she started walking towards the small kitchen.

"Wow, you can cook too? Is there anything you _don't_ know how to do? Oh wait, nevermind. I saw you trying to ice skate," she said, smiling. He turned around with a small laugh.

"Good morning to you too. I figured you'd enjoy some breakfast before work," he told her.

"Aw, how cute. You're taking care of me," she said, smiling. She wound up with her arms around his neck, and his arms around her waist. They kissed once, just a light tap, then again, longer and more passionate this time. They didn't pull apart until they were both out of breath. They'd had so few opportunities to be together as a couple because they had to keep the secret from the team. Now it became painfully apparent to Amy that she and her boyfriend were alone in his apartment.

That realization would not be a bad thing if they didn't have to get to work soon. Once again, work got in the way.

"I should start getting ready," she said reluctantly.

"Yeah," he said, just as unwilling to break apart. "The bathroom's right next to the bedroom. Breakfast should be ready when you are," he said.

A little while later she emerged from the bathroom fully dressed, her still damp hair pulled back away from her face. As Reid had predicted, breakfast was ready and they sat down to eat.

"So do you want to talk about what happened last night before you came over, or should I ignore it?" Reid asked.

"It was worse than I thought it would be. We got into a fight and I walked out. I didn't mean to come over so late, but I wasn't thinking clearly and I didn't realize the time. Sorry," she said.

"Amy, don't apologize. It was nice having you stay over. You should come over more often. When you're not fleeing your house," he said, smiling. She laughed.

"I think I will. Maybe I'll come back tonight, if she still refuses to drop it. Or when she leaves you can come over my place. It's nice spending time together outside of work," she said.

"Definitely," he replied. He wondered if he should tell her that Morgan knew. She didn't know Morgan as well as he did, and she might worry about that. He decided against it. He'd tell her when she knew the team better.

"So speaking of work, do we take separate cars today? I mean it'd be easier to take one but that might make the team suspicious," she commented.

"Yeah. You know, we've got a week off coming up. Do you have any plans?" Reid asked.

"Not really. What do you plan on doing?" She replied.

"I was going to go home to Las Vegas. You should come with me. I did say I'd show you around one day," he said.

"Yeah, you did. You also promised to show me that it's not as strange as New York City. What if I bet you that you can't make me believe that?" she said with a mischevious smile.

"You're on. What are you betting?" he replied.

"You'll see," she answered.

"Come on, tell me," Reid insisted.

"We should get to work, we don't want to be late now, do we?" she laughed, standing you're up.

"You're evil," he said, with a smile of his own.

"You love it," she accused, wrapping her arms around him. After staying the night in his apartment, she found herself not as shy as she would have previously been.

"Maybe," he admitted. Then they were kissing again, all thought of work forgotten.

They pulled into the parking lot at about the same time. Neither had wanted to leave, but they knew they had to. So, acting as normal as they possibly could, they went inside and started the day. Reid had a feeling Morgan had watched them come in at the same time, but he reminded himself that it didn't matter because Morgan already knew.

"Alright everybody, conference room. There's a new case," JJ called. Shortly after the team was gathered around the table as JJ prepared to brief them. "In the past four weeks two women were murdered in Los Angeles. Both of them were taken from their homes and their bodies were found dumped on the front lawn of the next victims homes the day they went missing," she began. A picture came up on the screen.

"This is Casey Remington. Her body turned up on Joanna Alson's lawn with strange symbols carved into her body. Joanna was already gone. Her body was then found on Stephanie Simon's lawn yesterday morning, with the same symbols. Stephanie is still missing. The unsub holds them for five days before dumping them, and there are exactly two weeks between each disappearance," she explained.

"All of the women were blondes in their early twenties, all lived with a boyfriend, all held minimum wage jobs. What confuses the LAPD is the fact that this case exactly matches the MO of a serial killer from a year ago. That man, Charles Moore, was killed when police tried to arrest him at his home," JJ finished.

'So it's a copycat?" Amy said.

'A copycat with details of the crimes that were never released to the public," Morgan commented, looking through the files.

"We're going to LA, wheels up in half an hour," Hotch said, and then he left the room.

_I should call Ro and let her know I won't be home_, Amy thought. But then again, she wasn't sure she wanted to have a conversation with her old friend at the moment. She settled for sending her a text message, and was a little surprised when she received an answer saying nothing but "k". From what Amy remembered, the shorter the text message Rosa sent, the more unhappy she was. But she'd have to deal with that later. Right now, they had a case to solve.

**A/N: ****Ehhh these briefing chapters never come out as good as I'd like. It'll get better, I promise. Thanks again to my reviewers. I'd like to send out a personal thanks to AnnabelleLee13194, your review on that last chapter made me laugh myself half to death. You and all of my other reviewers are awesome. Well let's get some new people in that Legion of Awesomeness, just review and you're in!**


	22. Old Friend

As soon as the team had set up at the police station, they started looking through the numerous files from the original case. They hoped they could find something there that would help them know who in the world could copy the killer. The original killer was dead, so they couldn't ask him who knew the details of his crimes. That made everyone with access to the files a suspect.

If the Unsub was anywhere near as good as the original killer, it was going to be difficult to catch them. Charles Moore, the original killer, had only been caught by luck. The last woman he kidnapped managed to escape him and go to the police. He had already killed five women before her. Each disappearance had been exactly two weeks apart. Just like the current case.

"Amy, Reid, we're not getting much here. Go talk to Moore's surviving victim, see if she knows anything at all we can use," Hotch said. Amy couldn't help but notice that she and Reid were often sent places together now. She entertained the possibility that it was just Hotch noticing that they worked very well together, not him noticing something else.

Amy looked out the passenger side window, watching the plam trees blow in the wind. "You know, it kind of sucks that we have to be here to catch a killer. It's so nice here, and we don't get to enjoy it," she said.

"Well there's not really anything we can do about that. Right now there's another woman missing, and only a few days left to find her. Keep your head in the game. Remember, we've got time off soon," Reid told her.

"Right. Some time to ourselves without worrying about serial killers," she replied, smiling. "Huh, nice area," she added, as the continued closer to the surviving victim's home.

"The file said that the surviving victim, Christina Law, is an actress who's recently been gaining popularity. She probably moved into the area after she got a job on a tv show," Reid suggested.

"Maybe, but usually you don't live in an area like this unless you've had money for a while. Her parents probably contributed something," Amy said.

They pulled into the driveway of a very nice, large house. Two porsches were parked side by side in the driveway.

"Lifestyles of the rich and the famous," Amy muttered. Reid smiled. They went up the walkway and rang the doorbell. The door was answered by a tall blonde woman. "Christina Law?" Amy asked. The woman nodded. "We're with the FBI, we'd like to talk to you about your experience a year ago. Can we come in?" she said.

Christina Law nodded and let them in. "I hope you don't mind that I've got a friend over. She knows how nervous the recent murders have made me, and she's been over a lot to help me out," she told them .

"It's not a problem," Reid said as she led them into the living room. There was another blonde woman sitting down on a couch, facing away from them. She turned around when she heard them enter, and her face suddenly changed to display a look of shock.

"Spencer?" She asked, amazed.

"Lila?" Reid said, just as surprised.

"Spencer!" Lila yelled, running to him and throwing her arms tightly around him. Reid couldn't help but notice Amy's look. He knew he'd have to explain this later.

"Oh my god Spencer I missed you so much! We haven't talked in such a long time I was beginning to think you forgot about me," Lila said, so fast it was hard to understand you.

"Hey Lila. It has been a while. Um, what are you doing here?" Reid asked akwardly, trying to tactfully maneuver out of her arms.

'I could ask you the same question, but I can guess why you're here. I'm just here to help a friend. And you know, you could act like you're a little happier to see me," Lila replied with a grin, not letting him pull away.

Amy cleared her throat loudly. "We have a few questions to ask you, Miss Law. We need to get started so we can get back to our team," she said.

"Oh I'm sure you don't need both of you for that. Christina feels more comfortable talking to girls anyway. I'll just show Spencer around the house while you ask her what you need to ask," Lila insisted.

"I don't think-" Amy began.

"She's right. I'm not really comfortable around boys," Christina said quietly. Amy sighed. If Christina wasn't going to talk any other way, she didn't have much of a choice.

"Fine. It shouldn't take too long," she said stiffly. Amy knew she was jealous, but she felt she had reason to be. A beautiful blonde actress was hanging all over her boyfriend. She didn't like this one bit. She ignored Reid's apologetic look and sat down across from Christina.

"I know this is hard to keep going over. I understand what you went through," Amy started.

"No you don't. Nobody can. Not unless they've lived it," Christina said harshly.

"I have lived it, so I do know what it's like. I'll try to be brief. Other than Moore, did you see or hear anybody else while you were being held captive?" she asked.

"No. Nobody, just Charles," Christina replied. Her face twisted with pain when she said Moore's name.

"Did you ever get any letters, threats from people wanting to avenge Moore?" Amy asked.

"No, nothing. I wanted to keep my identity as private as possible. My acting career didn't start taking off until it was all over," Christina explained.

"I understand this is painful, but you need to think. Think hard, we need to know anything that can help, no matter how small," Amy insisted.

"There's nothing, and I don't want to go over this. Please leave," Christina said, her mood changing suddenly. She stood up and walked to the hallway. "Lila! Bring the agent back here, we're done and they need to leave," she called.

The car was silent, akwardly so. Amy could hear Lila's parting words in her head. _It was so great to see you again Spencer! This won't be the last time we see each other, we're going to spend a lot more time together before you go back home_, she had called after the car. Amy reverted to staring out the window, arms crossed.

"There's nothing there," Reid said suddenly.

"What?" Amy said, looking at him.

"Between me and Lila. There was a little spark once, years ago. But there's nothing there anymore," he insisted.

"Spence, if there is then tell me. She's really pretty, and a famous actress. Not easy to compare to. She's probably got a lot fewer issues too," Amy said.

"Are you crazy? There's no comparison. I swear to you Amy, Lila doesn't hold a candle to you," he told her. Hearing the fire in his words and seeing it in his eyes, Amy had to believe him.

"You know, you've got strange taste in girls," she joked with a smile.

"So how'd it go with Law?" he asked.

"It didn't. She kept saying that she knew nothing that could help us. I don't think she was ready to think through it again. Not even with the new murders," Amy said, clearly irratated with the girl's refusal to help.

"Amy, not everybody is as strong as you. She's probably having a really hard time dealing with it. Hopefully she'll overcome that and do the right thing soon," Reid said.

"And if she doesn't?" Amy asked,

"Then we do the best we can to catch this guy before he hurts anybody else," he told her.

**A/N: This chapter is a few days late, and I'm sorry. I was planning a sweet sixteen, doing my brother's english paper (don't ask), and going through a break up. I'll start getting them out on time again. Review?**


	23. Doubt

When Amy and Reid got back to the station, all of the team was gone except for Morgan. "All went to look at crime scenes, talk to friends and families of victims, stuff like that. I'm the only one back so far. How'd things go for you guys?" Morgan said.

"I could have gotten more information from a rock. Christina Law refused to say anything. She insisted she didn't know anything that could help us, then all of a sudden she seemed to get angry and tossed us out. I don't think she'll be of any help," Amy said.

"Did you notice anything wierd about her behavior?" Morgan asked. Amy shook her head. "What about you, Reid?"

"I... um... wasn't exactly there when Amy was talking to her," Reid admitted.

"Well then where the hell were you?" Morgan asked.

"Miss Law had a friend over," Reid said.

"An irratating friend. Insisted on 'showing him around the house' and wouldn't let him stay to question Law," Amy muttered. Morgan raised his eyebrows.

"Apparently Christina Law is good friends with Lila Archer," Reid explained.

"You ran into Lila again?" a voice called from behind them. They turned around to see that JJ and Rossi had returned. It was JJ who had spoken.

"How did that go? Do you two still have that little connection from all those years ago?" JJ teased.

"It was nothing," Reid insisted.

"Oh really? I remember a bunch of destroyed photographs that said differently. Good thing Morgan and Elle caught that photographer. Or do you mean to tell me you _weren't_ making out in-" JJ started teasingly.

"Anyway!" Amy interrupted. "We were just discussing the fact the Christina Law, Moore's surviving victim, won't be of any help to us. Morgan, why did you want to know if she was acting wierd?" she asked. She avoided looking at Reid. _JJ's right, that definitely doesn't sound like it was nothing. No, he said he's over her. But what if he's lying?_ she thought. Her mind raced, half thoughts of doubt and half trying to reassure herself.

"It's just a theory, but I was thinking she might have some idea who's doing this. It's unlikely, but it's possible that's why she's refusing to talk. She could be either too scared of this person to tell us, or she could be protecting them," Morgan explained, hoping, like Amy, to get the subject off Reid and Lila. Reid was practically his little brother, and he saw how much he cared about Amy. He didn't want tension in their relationship any more than they did.

"There isn't really anything that points to that, not that I noticed at least. She said she didn't like to talk about what happened to her," Amy said.

"Well that's understandable," Hotch said, as he and Prentiss entered the BAU's corner of the station.

"People are dying. That should be enough reason for her to talk, even if it's difficult," Amy muttered. Hotch ignored her.

"Well, what else did we find,?" he asked.

"None of the victims, Moore's on the new unsub's, had any connection, other than living in LA. These look to be completely random. He sees them, they fit his victim type, he decides to take them," Rossi said.

"Well he's got to be meeting them somewhere. These victims lived all over the city, it's not likely the unsub drives all over LA looking for victims. He must stick to a specific area and choose victims that pass through there," Emily said.

"Well, the victims were all actresses, if they can be given that title. None of them ever got a job acting, but that's the reason they were in LA and according to friends and family, they went to a lot of auditions. Maybe he finds them there? I'm sure there's no shortage of blonde actresses around here," JJ said.

"Start there. See if any of them went to the same auditions recently," Hotch said.

Unfortunately, when they went back to the hotel late that night they were no closer to finding the unsub, and Stephanie Simon was still missing. She had three days left to live and unless the BAU found something soon they would never save her in time. Amy knew what she was probably going through, and that thought was torture.

Her mind raced with a million little thoughts, some centered around the case, some centered around her own life and issues, some centered around her and Reid, and others centered around Reid and Lila. Lila had broken into the perfect, dreamlike quality her relationship had been shrouded in for so long. Now Amy was beginning to doubt things.

What if she couldn't handle this job after all? Each case went right to her core, and it wasn't getting easier. The other members of the team weren't affected like this. What if her stay in hell four years ago had ruined her forever, made her unable to do what she really wanted to do? She wondered if it would have been better if she had just turned down the job.

But if she had, she would never have seen Reid again. Surely that made everything else worth it, right? But she thought of the day's events, and then even her relationship was cast into doubt. She was amazed at how much the situation with Lila was affecting her. She was overreacting, she knew it. But everything that happened over the past few days, from Rosa to the case to Lila, she was physically and mentally exhausted.

She heard a knock on her hotel room door, and knew who it was without even checking. Nobody else would check up on her this late. She almost considered not answering, but then she walked to the door and let Reid in.

"Amy, are you okay?" he asked.

"I'm fine," she insisted.

"Listen, I can't change the past. I'm not going to lie and say that I never kissed her. I'll even admit that I did have feelings for her, back then. But that's changed. I've changed. I could never have anything with her again, even if I wasn't with you. I can't force her to accept that, but I can do whatever you want to prove to you that you're the only one I want," he told her. She hesitated, all of her doubtful thoughts threatening to overwhelm her.

"Are you really sure? I mean, she's a lot prettier and... probably a lot more whole. I doubt she has some horrible event from her past that is trying to take over her. Maybe she'd be better for you," she whispered.

"Amy, are you crazy? I don't care what happened, it doesn't change how I feel about you. And I think I'm old enough to decide for myself what's best for me. And Amy, that's you," he said. He pulled her into a hug. "And don't ask me if I really mean that, because I do. One hundred percent. And whatever you're going through, I'll be there. I'll help you. You don't have to suffer alone anymore. Neither of us do," he whispered against her hair.

She wrapped her arms around him and held him as tightly as she could, feeling his arms tighten around her in response. "I'm sorry, Spence. I was acting silly. Forgive me?" she said.

"There's nothing to forgive," he replied. They kissed, and Amy thought that just maybe, as long as she had Reid with her, everything would be fine. The kiss deepened, and neither of them wanted it to ever end. But eventually, Amy pulled away. She gave a small laugh at his expression.

"Trust me, I want to continue just as much as you do. But we _are_ on a case, and our team memebers _are_ sleeping very closely, separated from us only by the thin walls of a hotel. I think we should hold that thought until we can have some privacy. Then we can pick up where we left off," she whispered. And with a promise like that, how could Reid argue?

**A/N: Finally I can type again! I was out of commission for a little while. I was attacked by a dog and he tried to rip my hand off. On my sixteenth birthday, I might add! I was in too much pain to type for a little while, but now the pain in my hand has dulled enough for me to work through it. And I've got a three day weekend!!! Yay!! Oh I just love writing dramatic/sweet scenes for these two, even more than the couples in the novels i'm working on. There's something about Amy and Reid that makes me love them. And the drama? Juiiiicy! Haha, this is fun. Lots of love to my reviewers, you're all epic and you get cookies. **


	24. Idiot

Amy woke with a jolt, having just gone through another nightmare. But this one was nothing like the usual ones. It was a replay of that day, mainly her conversation with Christina Law. Things weren't fitting together, and Amy thought she knew why. It was only a few small, subtle things, but Amy had a feeling she was right in her suspicions.

_Nobody, just Charles,_ Law had said. Why would she be calling him by his first name? That wasn't normal behavior. And the way her face had twisted in pain when she said Moore's name, what if it wasn't because she hated him? It never did make sense for Moore to have left a survivor. She remembered something small, one sentence from a file the team had discarded as inconsequential.

_Charles Moore was already dying_. When police shot him, they were only speeding it up. Moore was found to have an inoperable brain tumor. What if he felt that he needed somebody to continue his legacy? What if he somehow convinced a victim to fall in love with him so that his legacy wouldn't end when he died? What if being killed by police was just part of the plan?

She knew how unlikely this all was, but she needed to check it out. Quietly and quickly, she got dresses and exited the room. She stood in the hallway for a few minutes, debating whether or not she should tell somebody where she was going, or maybe get somebody to go with her. But she was sure she was just being silly and that she would be back shortly, after she had reassured herself that she was wrong.

She hurried down to the parking lot, another thought entering her head. If Christina Law was the unsub, maybe her visit today had caused her to believe that they were on to her. So maybe Stephanie Simon was already dead. She forced the thought out of her mind as she got into one of the black SUVs and started the engine.

_You're insane. You've got absolutely nothing to support your theory, and yet you're rushing off to check it out. Alone. You could lose your job!_ she thought. But she ignored that little voice in the back of her head and only drove faster. Whether she was right or wrong, she had to be sure. That was it. She just had to be sure.

When she finally pulled up into Christina Law's driveway, she had no idea what to do next. She couldn't exactly knock on her front door at 3:30 in the morning. She settled for walking around and peering into any windows she could reach. Surely that would be enough to prove to herself that she was acting crazy. Hell, she was lucky if somebody didn't mistake her for a prowler!

A few minutes later, she had checked in the windows and was heading back to the car, silently scolding herself for acting so stupid. As she walked along the side of the house, she noticed a little window she had missed before, level with the ground and partially obscured by a flower bush.

She lay herself down on the ground, carefully pushing the bush aside. It was too dark to see inside, so she grabbed her flashlight and shone it through the glass. She gasped in shock at what she saw. A blonde woman, she assumed it was Stephanie Simon, was leaning against the wall, her wrists tied together and tied to the wall above her head, as if she were in a dungeon.

She knew she should call for backup, she knew she shouldn't go in there alone. But when she pushed against the window, it opened and all she could think about was saving Stephanie. It was a small window, but Amy had always been rather slender and found it easy to slip inside. She hurried over to Stephanie and checked for a pulse, praying she would find one.

When Stephanie opened her eyes, Amy let out a sigh of relief. Her relief was short lived, however. It was destroyed when Stephanie screamed loudly. Amy clapped her hand over her mouth to keep her quiet.

"Are you insane? Be quiet! My name is Amy O'hara and I'm with the FBI, I'm here to help you. Now we have to get out, _now_, before she comes down here," she whispered quickly, trying to undo Stephanie's bonds.

"You aren't going anywhere, Agent O'hara," a small voice said from behind her. She spun around to see Christina Law standing in the doorway, holding a gun. "It wasn't supposed to come to this. After this there was only supposed to be one more. And they were all supposed to fit his type. You don't fit his type. I wouldn't have to kill you if you hadn't come sneaking in like this," she whispered.

"Christina, you don't want to do this. Think of how you felt when you were kidnapped. How can you do the same thing to other people?" Amy said.

"I wasn't going to. Charles told me to, but I wasn't going to. But I was being tortured by my mind, it couldn't get over what happened! Then when I killed the first one, I felt so much better. You couldn't understand. I guess sometimes the prey becomes the predator," Christina muttered.

"And sometimes the prey grows to stop the predators," Amy replied, lunging at her. It was stupid and dangerous, but it surprised Law enough that Amy didn't get shot. The gun fired, but the bullet hit the ceiling. The next few seconds were terrifying for Amy, fighting hand to hand with a desperate woman, trying to keep that desperate woman from shooting her.

Finally Amy managed to draw her own gun, and breaking away from Law she pointed it. "Put your gun down, Christina," she pleaded quietly.

"No!" Christina cried, and Amy saw her tense. She was about to pull the trigger. Amy forced herself to fire her own weapon. She saw Law go down and prayed she wasn't dead. Much to Amy's horror, she was. Amy had never killed somebody before. It was harder than she thought. Regaining control of herself, she pulled her phone out and called the only person she could think of.

"Amy?" Reid's voice asked, clearly confused on the other side of the line.

"Spence, I'm at Christina Law's house. She was the unsub. I found Stephanie Simon, she's alive. But Law's dead," she said, her voice shakey.

Twenty minutes later, the scene was crowded with amublances and police cars. The sirens and lights made the whole thing take on a dreamlike quality for Amy. The lecture she was currently getting from Hotch, however, was a tough reminder of just how real this was, and just how stupid she had been.

"Are you completely insane? You could have gotten yourself killed! What in the world were you thinking? No, it doesn't matter what you were thinking. That was incredibly stupid, and if you ever pull something like that again, if you ever put youself or somebody else in danger again, I will not hesitate to fire you," he said, before walking off and leaving her standing there.

Hotch's anger had hurt, but it was nothing compared to the state of shock she was in over actually killing somebody. She tried to justify it by telling herself that if she hadn't, Law would have killed her and Stephanie Simon. It helped a little bit, but not much.

"Are you okay?" Reid asked, suddenly appearing beside her.

"I will be. I just never actually killed anybody before," she replied.

"You know you're a total and complete idiot, right?" he asked.

"Yeah. Hotch was pretty clear on that," she answered.

"We'll talk when we get home tomorrow. Right now you should get back to the hotel. I'll take you. The others can handle everything here," he told her. When she finally got back to the hotel, she unlocked the door and went right to the bed, not even bothering to change out of her clothes. She felt Reid sit down on the edge of the bed.

"Don't ever scare me like that again," he said quietly.

"What?" she asked, confused in her drowsy state.

"When you told me what was going on, I was scared out of my mind. Even though you'd already told me that Law was dead, a part of me was terrified I was going to lose you. Don't ever do that to me again," he said.

"I won't," she promised, just before she drifted off to sleep.

**A/N: Review for me, babes. You'll all get cookies. **


	25. Angry

They left LA early in the morning, and arrived home late in the afternoon. Amy was going to stop home, drop off her things, make up with Rosa, and head over to Reid's apartment. To her surprise, he went with her, following in his car as she drove to her house. She couldn't quite understand why he was going to stop by her house if they'd just wind up at his apartment in the end, but she didn't think on it too hard.

She wondered if she was still in trouble for her stupidity back in LA. She knew she was still in trouble with Hotch, but she couldn't tell if Reid was still angry at her. She hoped he wasn't, but knew that if he was he'd forgive her soon. And she needed him to forgive her, because she needed him to tell her that everything was okay. Killling Law had shaken her.

She entered her house, pulling her bag behind her. She couldn't help but notice how she and Reid had barely spoken since she had fallen asleep. That wasn't a good sign. He was probably still angry at her.

"Rosa, are you here? It's Amy, I'm home from the case," she called, her loud voice only making the silence all the more deafening. Entering the kitchen, she found a note on the table. She read it silently, noticing the short, direct phrasing. Rosa was definitely still mad, but Amy would have to deal with that later.

_Amy-_

_ Chris got here while you were away. I'm with him at the hotel now. Call me when you get back. Talk to you then._

_ -Rosa_, the note said.

"Huh. Her fiance showed up, and now she's staying with him in a hotel now. She told me to call when I get back," Amy explained to Reid, who was standing behind her.

"You can call her later," Reid said, his tone making it clear that they were going to have a serious talk.

"I'm in trouble, aren't I?" Amy asked nervously.

"Damn right you are. What were you thinking?" he said, trying to keep anger out of his voice. He wasn't doing a very good job.

"I... I'm sorry, Spence. I just woke up from a dream and noticed some wierd things about my conversation with Law. I thought I was being dumb, but I had to be sure. If I thought my crazy suspicions were right I would have never gone alone. And then when I saw Stephanie Simon through the window my only thoughts were that I had to help her, even though I should have called for backup, and then Law was there and she had a gun and we fought and then I got my own gun and she was going to pull the trigger but I beat her to it. I didn't want to kill her, but I did," Amy replied quickly, her voice getting shakey at the end.

"Did it ever occur to you that the safest thing for both you and Stephanie Simon was for you to wait and call me? Or even somebody else on the team, anything but for you to go in there completely alone, without anybody knowing where you were?" he asked, still angry but softening.

"I knew that, but she looked almost dead and I had to know, I wasn't thinking. I was remembering what happened to me and I..." Her voice faltered and she couldn't continue.

The next thing she knew she was wrapped in a tight hug, fighting back tears. _Don't let anybody see you cry. Just don't do it!_ she told herself. Nobody had seen her cry in years. She wasn't going to change that now. She forced herself back under control.

"I'm not angry at you, Amy. I'm not really even angry. But I had no idea it was even possible to be so worried about somebody, and that was when I _knew_ the person who was the danger was already dead. I wouldn't be able to take it if something happened to you. Please, swear to me you'll never put yourself in danger again," he whispered.

"You know I can't promise that, Spencer. We're FBI agents, our jobs are dangerous by nature. So I will always be in some degree of danger, and you will too. You know that. But I will swear to never put myself in any more danger than the job requires," she replied.

"Good enough. For now," he said.

"So am I forgiven?" she asked.

"I'm not sure. I'll let you know when I'm fully recovered from the heart attack you nearly gave me," he answered, but his tone made it clear she was beyond forgiven. With a small smile, she kissed him, lightly at first, then growing more passionate as he returned the kiss.

"You know, I did promise we'd pick up where we left off at the hotel," she whispered, out of breath and breaking the kiss only for a few seconds.

"You did, didn't you?" He said, also refusing to stop the kiss for more than a few seconds. Without breaking the kiss, Amy guided them down the hall, towards her bedroom. As she pulled the door closed behind them, they both knew it would be a while before they would emerge.

**A/N: OH YEAH! Some fun for these two. Now what in the world could they be doing behind that closed door? Hahahahahahaha, I loved this chapter. It was so much fun. So what if it's short, I love the way it ended! *Wink wink* Oh, the tragedy, my friend just banned me from watching any more Criminal Minds!! He says that I should focus my mind on better things, like figuring out what is the square root of purple. He told me that only my brilliant mind can figure it out, yet I'm spending my time watching Criminal Minds. So then I told him that the square root of purple was big toe and he gave me permission to watch it again. Haha, I have very strange friends.**


	26. Morning

Late that night, Amy lay under the covers in her bed, snuggled into Reid's chest, enjoying the feel of his arms around her. Both of the were near sleep. A comfortable silence filled the room. They had gotten back from the case at a convenient time, and wouldn't need to go back to work until after their week off. The moment felt as close to perfection as possible.

"Hey Amy?" Reid asked quietly.

"Yeah, Spence?" she replied.

"You know I love you, right?" he said. She smiled.

"Yeah. You know I love you too, right?" she replied.

"Yeah," he answered.

The next morning when Amy woke up, she realized that for the first time in a long time, she had gone the entire night without a nightmare. She felt more rested than she had in just as long. It was an amazing feeling, and she couldn't help but smile. She rolled over on to her stomach and pushed herself up on her elbows. She saw that, next to her, Reid was still sound asleep.

He looked so peaceful when he was sleeping. When he was awake he had a certain quality to him, something in his eyes, Amy could tell he had seen and been through much and was still haunted by it. When he was asleep that was gone, and he seemed more peaceful and innocent. It was actually rather adorable.

Eventually he was able to sense her looking at him, which woke him up. He yawned and opened his eyes, smiling when he saw her. "Good morning," he said.

She smiled and giggled. "Good morning sleepyhead," she replied.

"How long have you been up?" he asked.

"Only a few minutes," she said.

"Why didn't you wake me up?" he asked.

She blushed a little. "Well, you looked so adorable and peaceful and happy when you were sleeping. I didn't want to disturb you," she admitted.

He laughed. "I don't know about adorable or peaceful, but I definitely was happy. I still am. After all, I did just wake up next to the most amazing woman I know," he said, pulling her halfway on top of him and kissing her. She laughed when she finally pulled away, laying her head on his chest. He wrapped his arms around her and gently stroked up and down her spine.

"I love you, Spence," she said. She loved saying it.

"I love you too, Amy," he told her. She decided she loved hearing it even more. At least when it was from him.

Eventually she got out of bed, smiling and saying "You hungry? I could make something or we could go out for breakfast. Even though it's already the afternoon," she laughed.

She threw on an old pair of sweatpants and a tee shirt, deciding she'd rather stay in. She paused for a moment. "You know, if you're going to start sleeping over you should keep some of your clothes here. Knowing you, you won't want to put back on the same clothes from the day before," she said with a smile.

"You're probably right. You could keep some stuff at my place too, if you want. It's a good idea if we're going to be going back and forth," he said.

She nodded. "So how about breakfast?" she asked. Without waiting for an answer she headed down the hall toward the kitchen, knowing he was following close behind. When she got to the kitchen she saw Rosa's note still on the table, and felt a little guilty remembering her friend.

"You should call her," Reid said, seeing what she was looking at.

"I will later. She'll probably want to meet up to work things out. It can wait," Amy insisted.

"Amy, we both know that's a lie. Call your friend, go meet up, make up and have fun. I should head home anyway. I still need to book a flight to Las Vegas for the week off. Are you going to come with me?" he asked.

"Of course, if you want me to," she replied.

"Of course I do," he said, pulling her into his arms. He kissed her, and they broke apart sooner than they would have liked. But if they had their way, they would never break apart.

"I'll come by your apartment when I'm done with Rosa. Maybe bring some things to leave there," she said.

"I'll look forward to it. I love you," he said.

"I love you too," she replied. After he left, she went back into the kitchen and picked up the phone. _Please don't still be mad_, she prayed.

"Hello?" Rosa's voice said on the other end.

"Hey Ro. It's Amy," she replied.

"Oh my God, Amy! I was starting to worry about you!" Rosa said.

"Hey, listen, I'm sorry about the other night. I don't want to fight," Amy told her.

"Don't worry about it. It was my fault anyway. You see, I was still kind of mad so I told Chris about it, and he told me how insensitive I was being. He's good at being my voice of reason. I'm really, really sorry Aim. Forgive me?" Rosa asked.

"Of course!" Amy replied, smiling.

"Great. Now I want you to meet Chris! Are you busy right now?" Rosa asked.

"No. I'm free at the moment," she replied.

"Good. Know any good restaurants in the area?" Rosa asked. Amy told her her favorite. "Great. We'll meet you there in an hour. I can't wait for you to meet him, I just know you're going to love him!" she finished.

Amy laughed. "I'd better. If he doesn't seem like he's perfect for you, he's not getting my approval," she joked.

"Since when does your approval matter? Last time I checked, you were the one who needed her boyfriends approved! I still haven't decided to improve this new one you've got," Rosa laughed.

"How about we just agree to approve what makes the other one happy?" Amy suggested, smiling.

"Deal. Now get ready and get your butt over to the restaurant," Rosa said. With no other words, she hung up. Amy found herself smiling and shaking her head. Then she walked off to shower and get ready to go out.

**A/N: I have no idea what to say here, but for some reason I had to write one anyway. I don't know, I'm wierd. By the way, my new favorite word is mosquito. But it has to be pronounced "mos-kweeeee-toooooo". Go ahead, say it out loud. It's the most fun word ever! Also by the way, you just lost the game. Review for me, my loves!**


	27. Surprise

As she drove towards the restuarant she was supposed to meet Rosa and her fiance at, Amy couldn't help but reflect on how much had changed in the few months since her transfer to the BAU. She was happier, she could laugh easier, she reconnected with her old best friend. She was in love with somebody amazing. _This_, she thought, _is how it feels to really be happy_.

As happy as she was, she could not ignore the less positive side of things. She and Reid had to be careful to hide their relationship, or they risked losing their jobs. And both of them still had demons hidden away, there was no question about that. Then again, could any couple really say they knew _everything_ about each other?

She got to the restuarant in good time and spotted Rosa waiting for her out front. Parking was easy because the restuarant was one of those excellent, undiscovered little places. As soon as she stepped out of her car, Rosa rushed over, almost jumping up and down with excitement.

"About time you got back! What in the world were you doing the past few days? You look tired. Why do you look tired? No, don't talk. Come on, you've got to meet him. I just know you're going to love him! Why are we just standing here? Come _on_, let's _go_!" Rosa said, grabbing her by the arm and pulling her toward the door.

"Hey, easy girl! You're going to screw up your blood pressure," Amy joked.

"Quiet, no talking until you've been introduced!" Rosa insisted, pulling Amy through the door. Amy knew that Rosa didn't expect her to know which table they were headed for. But she did, and she was amazed at the person she saw sitting there. It wasn't possible. There was no way that, Chris, Rosa's fiance, was the same Chris Amy had once known. But he was.

"Chris? Chris _Pendred_?" Amy asked, disbelieving.

"Amy O'hara, is that you?" he asked, standing up and just as shocked.

"Oh my god, I haven't seen you in years!" Amy said.

"Hey, hey! What's going on here? Why do you two know each other's names? I thought you two weren't supposed to know each other," Rosa said, appearing almost irratating.

"Honey, I lived next door to Amy when we were kids. We were best friends until I was 21 and she was 16. That was when I finished college and stopped visting home. You know how my relationship with my family was. Amy was really the only reason I ever visited during college. That's actually part of the reason I was back there the day you met me. I was wondering if she was still around," Chris explained.

"Oh, really? And why did you never tell me of this childhood friendship?" Rosa asked, aggravated.

"I didn't think it mattered. I was told that Amy left town years ago, and hadn't been heard from since. I wanted to move on and when I met you everything changed," he told her. She grinned and clearly wanted to be kissed, but Chris turned his attention back to Amy. "So what's up with you leaving home? I thought you always planned on living in town," he asked her.

"I've only been back there once in the past four years, and that time was for work. I can't go back there, at least I don't think I can yet. Not after what happened," Amy replied, looking out the window.

"What happened?" he asked, curious.

"Remember the Cliffside Serial Killer that was all over the news?" she asked, only half into the conversation. The other half of her mind was remembering.

"The one that killed five girls before the FBI caught him? I think he had one surviving victim the FBI found at the last second. You're not telling me that you're afraid to go back because of that, are you? Amy they caught the guy and there's nothing to be afraid of," he started.

"Chris, just shut up a second," Rosa said, seeing that Amy was almost reliving it by talking about it. It was silent for a few seconds.

Amy took a deep breath to compose herself, then continued as if nothing had happened. "I was the surviving victim. He kidnapped me. Then he held and tortured me for two weeks before the FBI agents found me. After I got out of the hospital I got out of there as fast as I could, leaving everything and everybody behind. That's why I can't go back," she explained matter-of-factly.

"Oh my god. Amy, I had no idea," Chris said.

"It's fine. Let's move on. Next topic of conversation," she said, forcing a smile.

"Amy, you've just got to hang out with us next week. I found some clubs in the area that are absolutely amazing!" Rosa said. Amy laughed. Rosa would changed the subject that way.

"I'd love to, but I can't. I have a week off next week and I'm going to Las Vegas with Spencer," Amy replied.

"Oh my god if you come back married..." Rosa threatened, causing Amy to laugh again.

"Don't worry there, Ro. Spence and I have only been together for a few months, we're not going to be getting married just yet. Anyway, he grew up in Vegas and he wants to show me his home town," she explained.

"You may have only been together for a few months, but technically you've known him for a few years now," Rosa insisted.

"You're kidding, right? That doesn't count," Amy replied.

"So who's this Spencer guy?" Chris cut in.

"It's Amy's boyfriend," Rosa quickly replied.

"Oh really? Interesting. How'd you meet him?" he asked.

"He saved her life!" Rosa answered.

"Hey Ro, I can answer for myself. He was one of the FBI agents who found me four years ago. I wound up finding him again a few months ago because of work," Amy explained.

"Well what exactly do you do that has you running into FBI agents?" Chris asked, interested.

"I'm one of them. I met up with Spencer again when I was transferred into his unit," she replied.

"You? An FBI agent? I can't picture it," he insisted.

"I know, right? I had the same reaction when I found out. Clumsy, accident prone Amy. Everybody at school thought she'd wind up a model or an actress," Rosa laughed.

"I was thinking the same," Chris smiled.

"Okay, are we done picking on me?" Amy asked.

"I guess. Anyway, you should take some time off from work when you get back to hang out with us," Rosa insisted.

"I don't think that would be a good idea right now. I think I'm in trouble at the moment," she replied, remembering the events in LA.

"Why? What in the world did you do?" Rosa asked.

"Oh, I did something stupid on the last case. I had a suspicion and decided to go check it out. Alone. Turns out I was right, I found our missing victim, but she looked half dead. So I rushed in without calling for backup. Killer busted in, pointed a gun at me, and, well, we fought. I won, but you don't get to do something like that without getting into trouble," she explained.

"You're a total and complete idiot, Amy," Chris said.

"Yeah, I know," She replied. "But we've talked about me enough. I want to know how _this_ happened," she added, looking from Rosa to Chris. Before long, the conversation took on a much lighter tone and Amy was surprised at how easily she was enjoying a conversation with two old friends.

**A/N: I know, I know. This chapter was delayed. Please understand, I've been grounded. Technically I'm still grounded, until the end of time. It started off with no phone, no music, no tv, no computer, no going out, my sweet 16 getting cancelled, and me not being allowed to get my driving permit. Now it's been changed to me being allowed to have my phone and my music, limited tv and computer access, and my sweet 16 not being cancelled. Still not allowed to get my driving permit though, and I can't tell you how much this grounding sucks. I do deserve it, however. Since I transferred schools a few months ago, my grades have really dropped and my parents are very upset. I feel terrible, so I don't really think this chapter is as good as I usually do. Review for me and brighten my day, loves. **


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